Red
by ereynon1
Summary: I died. And was revived. As an Uzumaki. Partially. Much jazz hands. (Rated T for gore/violence. As well as language.)
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

Red, black and white. Three colors flashed in my eyes quickly in succession accompanied by searing pain before a light blinded me. My eyes slowly adjusted, allowing me to see the blurry outline of… holy crud. A giant? No. Wait, that's a person. I think.

Maybe I should back up. Hello. My name is Rachel Rernon. Or at least, it was. I know, I know. The alliteration is intense. Anyway, I am your average language student in their sophomore year of college. I was studying Chinese, Spanish, and French, having mastered Japanese and German. I was in the middle of a school year when my body decided it would be a good idea to develop a heart condition and up and die.

Heart attack. It's such a wonderful way to go, I know. I'll spare you all the bloody details and move on to my family and friends, or lack thereof. The only person I considered of any value in my 'past' life was my little brother, the cutie patootie he was.

Yeah. So. I died. And was… reborn! Surprise, surprise, because apparently, I have the luck to get reborn into a new life! Go me! Where my new life was? I had absolutely no clue. However, if I got lucky, then I would be reborn into the U.S. again, get raised by some wonderful parents, grow up, and forget this whole ordeal. But of course, no. I've never been that lucky.

So, back to the present, now that I've gotten over the shock of all the implications of being reborn, I'm honestly kind of excited to see where this leads and what my new life will be like. As long as I don't die of something stupid like a heart attack again, then I should be good.

Oh! A thought just occurred to me! What if I'm now an alien spawn! That's so cool! If only I could actually see my new… parents… ok, that's weird. New parents. I hope I can get used to calling them 'Mom' and 'Dad'… wait. What if we're not in a country whose language I know? That'd suck. I'd have to learn a new one. Not that that'd be so bad. Just expanding my knowledge is all.

My vision cleared and I saw my new mom, and even though the edges of her face were still pretty blurry, I could see one thing; she had glaringly bright red hair. 'Wow… Look at that! I hope my hair's red. Always wanted red hair.' I smiled brightly at her and tried to touch the beautiful red mop on my new mom's head.

She laughed. No, I don't think you get it. She LAUGHED. This woman, my new mom, was flipping BEAUTIFUL when she laughed. I gaped at her, and after a moment of her beautiful laugh, I joined in with the tiny voice I carried.

" _Ne, Ne! Kei, we should name her Hitomi! She's got your left eye, ttebano_!"

Japanese? No, wait, rewind, ttebano? Red hair. Brown eyes. Ttebano. Ttebane… Ttebayo! Holy Meep I'm in the Narutoverse. Crap. Crappity crap, crap. BUT THIS IS SO AWESOME! No! Wait! Crap! I'm going to be raised as a child soldier! Wait! But I get to have superhuman levels of strength through chakra, possibly meet some of my favorite charact- wait, they're people here… People all time, and just do some all around awesome crap. Deep breath. I can do this.

There. Much better. Ok. So, this is officially the most awesomely shitty thing that I have ever lived through (even if I technically died). Awesomely shitty. Yep. I'll go with that.

Oh. The entirety of what my mom just said hit me. SHE'S AN UZUMAKI! I AM NOW RELATED TO KUSHINA! WHOOHOO! (I think? Wait, but how does that make any sense? I thought the majority of them died...? I'll puzzle it over later.) Ah, what about my dad? Can I see him?

I twisted myself around in my mother's gentle yet firm hold to see my dad's face about a foot and a half away from my own. He had shaggy white hair with one teal blue eye and one light orange eye.

'Oh. My. Gosh. What have I done to deserve such beautiful parents? I hope I get at least half of each of their genes. My mom's hair and my dad's eyes. Hm. That'd be pretty cool, but blue eyes are a recessive gene. I've never seen orange eyes, but who are we kidding; this is Naruto!'

I smiled and reached out to my new father. He grinned and took my chubby, minutes old hand, and kissed my forehead. I bubbled happily. These were good people. I could make it through the hell-hole that this world was as long as I had someone on my side, and I got the feeling that these people would never be leaving as long as they had any say about it.

Time passed, mostly me sleeping and trying to stay comfortable, even though I wanted to scream in frustration. I loved my new parents, sure, but being a baby is infuriating. I couldn't do anything without assistance, I couldn't voice my concerns due to my voice being under developed, and every time I went to the restroom… well. Let's just say it's not the best feeling or smell. I can totally understand why babies cry so much. I however, managed to keep myself from making my parents too miserable. That… wasn't exactly something I could say I'd done in my first life. I had been an awful baby. My parents always said that I never would shut up. I made sure to change that this time.

Anyway, aside from my initial revelation that I was in the NARUTOVERSE OF ALL PLACES, I had received four confirmations of this now prevalent fact. One of them was chakra. My chakra was developing. I was about three weeks old when I felt a VERY uncomfortable feeling. It only got worse after a few days, and I bore the pain until I couldn't anymore. Then my parents took me to the doctor in the compound, and guess what? I was chakra hypersensitive. Not only to my own chakra, but to others' as well. It was handy to have, honestly. I could always tell where my parents were, and after the pain was over, I began working with my chakra. Plus, it made me pretty much immune to genjutsu.

Now, playing with chakra is fun. It's also a bit like playing with fire. One misstep, and you're screwed. I made sure to be very careful when working with it, and made sure I never became chakra exhausted. Because that sucked. Just being told about it was enough for me. I really didn't want to deal with something like that. Moving on, one day I managed to ping my mom with my chakra.

She rushed into the room and stood at the door, staring at me with wide open eyes. I smiled and tried to say her name, which, by the way, was Takara. Instead, all that came out was, "Ka!"

I frowned, but decided to use this to my advantage. I could say Kaa-chan now. Which I did.

Her face lit up like the sun when I called it out, and she came running over to me, picking me up and swinging me around. I got dizzy really easily, still developing and all that jazz, but her mood was infectious. She was laughing as she called my new dad in.

"Ne, Ne! Kei! She just said Kaa-chan! She just said her first word, ttebano!" Takara crowed.

Kei's surprised shout resounded from another room, "Already?"

He ran into the room and stared at me. I grinned at him, thoroughly enjoying their reactions.

He shook his head, "Smart girl! Can you say Tou-chan?"

"Ta… Tu… Tou… Tou-chan!" I replied, making sure to stumble a bit.

Takara nearly dropped me in her happiness. Both of us were laughing. She then said, "Good job, Hitomi, ttebano! Kaa-chan's proud of you!"

I beamed. Already making my parents proud at the grand old age of 3 weeks old, and I had no intention of stopping.

A few days later, my mom took me for a walk through the compound. Compound might not be the right word, though. It was more like a beautiful little city. As Takara walked through the streets, she got stopped and congratulated frequently, people constantly asking to see me. I grinned at the big, still sort of fuzzy faces, and babbled some gibberish, laying on the baby cuteness thickly. And I was a pretty darm cute baby. I had my mom's hair, just like I wanted, and it was already down to my shoulders (though Takara usually pulled it up into pigtails. She would always squeal that I was too cute for my own good, and I must admit, I agreed), and had my dad's orange eye. I was officially a fall-colored baby.

Walking through the streets in this manner, I soon learned that my father was the patriarch's brother, and that the clan I was born into had a kekki genkai. What the kekki genkai was, however, I wasn't sure, as no one seemed to have it. Not that that would ever stop me from finding out. The majority of the clan was either Uzumaki or Kanashimi. My parents had decided to hyphenate our names, so I was officially Kanashimi-Uzumaki Hitomi.

I also gained a new nickname. 'Tomi-chan'. Honestly, I had never had a nickname before. Rachel just didn't work as well as most names for nicknames. Honestly, I quite liked my new nickname, and decided that it suited me well.

A year or so passed. It was my birthday. I had thus far managed to make it seem like I just picked up spoken language easily, and I was already 'learning' to write by my birthday. Not to mention, I had made friends! Well, more like crib-mates, but that was beside the point. I had never had anyone like that in my 'past' life, and I hadn't thought I would have had any in this life either. Well, looks like the universe is out to prove me wrong.

My birthday was pretty fun. Just for giggles, I decided to shove my face into the cake, after blowing out the candles and taking them out of the cake, of course, with my pudgy little cutesy hands. I still couldn't walk. My legs were just too underdeveloped. But that didn't stop me from crawling everywhere I could. I digress. The cake tasted good, and everyone got a good laugh from my antics, including me. The way the icing felt on my face was just too funny not to laugh at.

The next year went by in the blink of an eye, and I was able to walk, as well as read, and was showing off the fact that I had just managed to stick a leaf to my forehead to my dad when my mom walked out of the restroom and hugged my dad in a rib-crushing embrace.

I cocked my head at her, and wondered what she was so happy about when the very, very faint signature of chakra came from my mom's belly. I was immediately up and walked over to my mom. I poked her stomach.

"What's in Kaa-chan's tummy?" I looked at them, wide eyed, asking a question I already knew the answer to.

"Your sibling, ttebano!" Takara replied happily.

"Si… bling?" I asked, blinking owlishly as if I didn't know what that meant and wasn't internally flipping out that I'd have a younger sibling again in this life.

Kei was completely shell-shocked, so it was left to Takara to tell me what she meant.

"Ah! Like your friend, Mira's little sister, ttebano!" Takara smiled at me.

"Ooh! So, I get a little person, aa?" I asked her.

Kei laughed, and Takara joined him while I adopted another confused expression, "Nani? What are Kaa-chan and Tou-chan laughing about?"

"Just…" Kei shook his head, "Yes. You will get a little person."

"Yay! I wanted a little person! Is the little person a Tou-chan or a Kaa-chan?" I asked, cracking up internally at my use of the words.

As I thought, my oddly worded question sent the two of them into hysterics.

"Pbfht it's hahaha a girl or a boy pht, Tomi," Kei wheezed.

"Oh. Well, is it a girl or a boy, then?" I asked, having barely managed to keep a straight face.

"We don't know, and we won't know until it decides to come out, ttebano!" Takara grinned.

"Ok, aa!" I smiled, "Ooh! If it's a… boy, then can we call him Sekki?"

"Sekki? Why Sekki, Tomi?" Kei asked.

"Mm, well, because sekki is a pretty color! It's like fire! Full of lifey stuff! And fire's always moving! I like Sekki," I nodded sagely.

Takara giggled, "I think Sekki would be a lovely name for a little boy, ttebano. What do you say, Kei?"

"I like it, too. All right, Tomi, Sekki will be his name if it's a boy," Kei grinned easily.

I clapped my hands, delighted, "Kay! I'll be the best ne'e-chan ever, aa!"

"Ttebano!" Takara crowed, sweeping me up.

The due date was here! I was two and three fourths-ish, and my second little brother was here! I couldn't wait! I loved little kids. Saying I was happy was like saying Naruto was ok with ramen.

Kaa-chan's labor was a couple hours long, during which I shamelessly fell asleep. It was the middle of the night, after all. I was woken up about an hour later, and walked into the hospital room. I saw the bundle of blankets my mom was holding, and immediately ran over to see. I pulled back the edge of the blanket hiding my little brother's face from me, and grinned at what I saw blinking at me with a blue and a brown eye. The little wisps of hair on his head were white, his little baby face was wrinkled, and he was crying. But he was perfection. I looked up at my mom, wordlessly asking to hold him. She allowed me, and I made sure to hold his head properly. He was heavy for me, but that was ok. I could deal with that. I'd just have to build up muscle mass. And get bigger.

He had stopped crying when I took him, and as he stared up at me, he sniffled. I smiled at him and said, "Welcome to the world, Otouto-Sekki!"

I looked up at Takara and Kei who were smiling at me, "And to our family!"


	2. Chapter 2: Kanashimi

I had convinced my dad to give me training. Boy, it was hard. But I had to get stronger. I needed to get as strong as possible so that I could make a difference in the plot and keep my brother safe. Hopefully, neither of us would die! Of course, shit has a habit of going to hell in a hand basket, so I was more than worried about that.

My father was surprised at my determination. He also thought I was adorable, as he told me on several occasions when my body refused to cooperate with taijutsu and other things and I pouted because my body wasn't doing what I wanted it to. I trained long and hard while my brother was developing so that I could spend time with him when he had finished enough that he could speak. I didn't want to be like Itachi. REALLY didn't want to be like Itachi.

Speaking of Sekki, I was my brother's favorite person in the household. I loved to spend every spare second of my day with him, and he became very attached as a result. Even though he couldn't talk, it was the adoration that immediately sprouted on his chubby little baby face when I walked into the same room as him that convinced me of this.

By the way, I adored him just as much as he adored me, and if I could, I would have skipped training to hang out with him… except for the fact that he was one of the reasons I was training in the first place. So, I didn't skip. Instead, I redoubled my efforts.

Accuracy in knife (kunai) throwing, I was pleased to find, came naturally for me, just as it had in the last life. (I had some weird hobbbies, ok?) And, so did ninjutsu. I had a little bit of trouble with taijutsu, but with work, I could become very, very good at it. As for Fuinjutsu? That was going to forever be my main focus. Even my mom said I was a prodigy at it. Ugh. Prodigy. Whelp, whatever. Too late now.

Chakra control was something I quite frankly sucked at. However, I practiced at that constantly, working so far as to coat each and every individual hair on my head in chakra. Not that I managed to do that at first. No. That took me until I was eight to master.

And so, the years passed. Pleasant and transitionary. I loved my little brother more than anything in the world, and when he began speaking when he turned two, I was ecstatic. I made sure to teach him Japanese, helping him with writing and reading. Oh! He even picked up a speech tick, just like me! I would say 'Aa' after my sentences when I was excited, and by little brother would say 'Ttebaye.' It was the cutest thing ever! I loved the way his chubby face would scrunch up whenever he would try not to say it. It was just too cute.

More time passed, and I was five. My little brother always followed me around like a puppy, and instead of telling him to go away like a normal sibling would, I was just so happy to have him around that I let him tag along everywhere. Maybe he reminded me too much of my old little brother (Isn't that a oxymoron?). I didn't care. I loved him, and decided that even if I was confusing the two, I definitely loved both. The two of us never went anywhere without each other. I had a circle of friends, and my brother was included. Anybody who said anything bad about my brother got a 'punch from the prodigy.'

I was happy because my brother, my mother, and my father were all happy. I may have not been any closer to figuring out what the clan's kekki genkai was, but I knew that I would be just fine without it. I may not have had any impact on the plot of Naruto yet, but I was still adjusting to the world. I would change things. I just had to get stronger first.

I was six. I beat my dad in a spar. No, no, no. I'm telling the truth, I swear. It was the most awesome and at the same time sad moment I had had yet in my short life. (Other than my grandma passing away. She was a nice lady.)

Kei grinned at me, "Well done, Tomi! Let's go get dango to celebrate! You've finally beaten your dad!"

I laughed, and helped him up, as we made the seal of reconciliation.

We went and got dango, picking up my little brother on the way.

But it was then that for the first time in my short life,

Disaster. Would strike.

'Dead. My mom was dead. Dead, dead, dead. And we were at her funeral. She wasn't coming back. She died. She died from a heart attack. Just like me. Dead. Dead, dead. No. Ototou can't cry. He's not allowed. I should hug him.'

I grabbed my little brother and looked him in the eye. He sniffled, and I was reminded of his first day of life, still as clear in my memory as if it had been yesterday. I drew him close, hugging him tightly. Absently, I noted he was almost as big as me. But that didn't matter. 'Because Mom was dead. I loved her. I love my little brother. I love my dad.'

'But they'll be gone, too. Soon. I can feel it. Darkness is approaching. Even though it shouldn't. I don't want it to. I want it to stay far, far away. Because darkness always means death… Am I delirious? Probably,' I mentally sighed.

I shook my head, mentally berating myself, 'Time to regain control of yourself, girly. You loved her. You can't let yourself wallow. You have a little brother who, right now, is alive. You HAVE to protect him and your dad. They are your responsibility. And you will keep them safe. For as long as you can.'

I nodded to myself, and looked back at the plaque my mother's picture was on. I walked up and kissed her picture on the forehead, "Kaa-chan, I promise to take good care of Tou-chan and Otouto. I promise I'll make them eat their veggies and always give Otouto his goodnight kiss in your place. I promise to work even harder at my fuinjutsu. I promise to always do my best. I promise to do the dishes. I promise to do the laundry every day. I promise to learn how to cook," I heard the sound of sobs being choked behind me, but I barreled on, refusing to think about tears, "I promise to try and never let you down. I promise to keep on living. I promise. I really, really do promise, Kaa-chan. And I won't ever let you down."

The rest of the funeral passed quietly, and with it, the days.

A few weeks passed.

"Ne, ne, Nee-chan, come with me!" I heard Sekki demand from behind me.

"What do you need?" I asked, turning around from doing the laundry.

"I wanna go pick flowers for Kaa-chan and Obaa-chan! And I have two baskets and I'm not strong enough to carry both of them!" He rambled, bunching up his chubby three-year old hands.

"Ok! Give me five minutes, Sekki and I'll be there," I smiled at him.

"HAAAIII!" He saluted, grinning. He was the cutest little brother anyone could ever have.

He didn't give me five minutes of course, the little goober. He was so impatient. He appeared at the edge of my wash bin, "C'mon, Ne'e-chan! It's been five minutes!"

I rolled my eyes, smothering a grin, "It's barely been two, Otouto."

"UGH," He rolled around on the grass, getting leaves in his hair.

I grinned, and finished washing the last article of clothing, hanging it up to dry, "Ok, let's go."

"FINALLY," Sekki dramatized.

I shook my head, "Patience is a virtue, Sekki."

He pouted.

I shook my head again, resisting the urge to laugh. Instead, I smiled, "Well, let's go get those flowers, aa!"

"Ttbaye!" He cheered, taking off with me on his heels.

The two of us arrived in a field of wildflowers not too far away from the compound, and immediately began picking the best ones.

"Ne, Ne'e-chan… why did Kaa-san leave us?" Sekki's question startled me.

"She… she didn't mean to, Sekki," I replied gently.

He sighed, "I miss her."

I smiled sadly, "I do too."

He looked over at me, a frown crossing his face before he smirked and went back to picking the flowers.

That was when a chill swept up my spine. I whirled, feeling strange chakra signatures. Then the signatures of people in my clan began disappearing.

"Sekki. Run into the forest. Run, and don't look back."

"No way! I'm not leaving you, Ne'e-chan!" He stubbornly insisted.

I muttered, "ugh I need you to right now…"

"What'd you say, Ne'e-chan?" He asked.

"Nothing," I replied. I was already running, and he was on my tail.

Then his chakra signature went unconscious as a new one entered the clearing with unbelievable speed. I skidded to a halt, and slowly turning around.

A man stood, holding my brother like a sack of potatoes. I smiled at him, "Would you mind letting go of my brother?"

"Hm… Only if you come with us, little girl," The man sneered.

I immediately switched to an attack stance. My heart was hammering in my throat. I was nervous. I exhaled slowly before I launched myself at him, performing the hand signs to a genjutsu. I finished the signs, casting it, and took another kunai out and stabbed him in the hand. He broke out of the genjutsu and cursed violently. I kicked him in the knee, kneed him in the groin, grabbed his hair and smashed his head into my knee. Then I got behind him, easily done now that he was on his knees, and held him at the point of my kunai.

"You. Will let go of my brother. NOW," I demanded through clenched teeth.

The man had the nerve to chuckle, "Who are you kidding, little girl. My friends will be here in a minute. Plus, a little kid like you will-"

He never finished his thinking, I slit his throat. I felt his blood on my hands. A sticky and wet sensation. I decided to not think about it and reached to pick up my brother when suddenly we were surrounded. Then everything went black.

I woke up to blood. Blood, gore, and forty people tied to stakes. Dead bodies strewn everywhere. Blood, guts, and gore were crowding my vision. Then I realized that my dad was tied up to a post along with the forty people.

And there was an enemy behind each post. Each held a weapon of some sort. Suddenly, it made sense. They were going to kill them. Theyweregoingtokillmynewdad.I had just lost my mom, and they were going to kill my dad. I struggled, trying to slip off the ropes but this got me a kick in the head.

"Just stay still, kid. It'll all be over soon enough," An enemy behind me stated.

I glared at him. Or, I should say I glared at his shadow.

I couldn't talk. I was gagged. My dad's eyes were dead. My little brother was tied up with me, being forced to watch the spectacle of our father and forty of our clansmen get killed.

Then they slit the last members of my family's throats. And I no longer had anyone to watch my back except my brother. But looking at him, I knew. I would be watching his back, and mine… would be left wide open.


	3. Chapter 3: Pain

A/N: Ok. So. I realized that I should probably do a disclaimer for this story as of now. Because I totally forgot about that for the past two chapters. I'm doing this thing for the whole story because I really don't want to put it a the head of every chapter. Thank you to those out there who are reading my story, and I hope I'm not letting you down. Thanks to 111Segasonic for leaving me a review and pointing out a flaw in the story.

Disclaimer: This story and Hitomi are mine. Naruto and its characters? They're not.

* * *

Weeks. Weeks of torture. For what? FOR NOTHING! They weren't even asking me any questions! Just pain, pain, pain, pain, pain! Did the weeks stretch into months? Into years? Where was Sekki? What were they doing to him? Please, don't let them be doing what they're doing to me! I can't let him be destroyed! No!

They threw me into a cell. I weakly got up, stumbled and fell, and the crawled my way to the bars of the cell.

"Kaa-chan…" I croaked quietly, "Tou-chan… Otouto…"

I looked at the white halls of my prison apathetically. I sat there for who knows how long, drifting in and out of sleep, before I was yanked to my feet again.

I whimpered quietly. I didn't want to be tortured more. That was what being fetched from my cell meant. Pain.

But today… today, it would be so much worse. I was dragged into another white room, my brother on an operating table of sorts. My eyes watered at the sight of him. He was in just as bad of shape as I was.

Then, they let me go. I staggered over to him. He slowly opened his eyes, and recognition sparked, "Ne… Ne'e-chan…?"

I almost broke into tears. Instead, I hugged him. Or, at least, tried to. I was ripped off of him by a very large man who was grinning maniacally, "Well, I'll finally get your precious little kekki genkai, little girl!"

My blood froze. What were they going to do to us? Hadn't they already done enough? I wasn't a little girl. I was an eighteen-year-old! Or… was I? No. I was. I was certain of that. Only now, wouldn't I be closer to twenty-seven? Oh, dear. I'm delirious. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

"Tie the girl up to the wall. You, get the drug," The man holding me barked orders at the enemies I was surrounded by.

Another man took me and tied me to the wall, facing my brother. The rest of the men left, save one, and he quickly injected my brother with a chakra-infused liquid, undid my brother's bonds, and ran out of the room.

I squirmed, trying to get up to see my little brother when he sat up, his face twisted and contorted in pain. He looked over at me before his eyes went blank, "Ne'e-chan… pl-please l-live." And he got up and launched himself at me like a rabid dog. He was foaming at the mouth, too.

I immediately reached for my chakra, forming a shaky blade with it and cutting the ropes that bound me in place before dodging my little brother's mindless assault. He whirled, snarling at me.

"Otouto… what…?" I was scared and confused.

He stopped, shudders racking his body as he gurgled out through internal bleeding, "Don't… know."

He then attacked me again, and I had to dodge.

Suddenly, a voice entered the room, "The only way to live, little girl, is for you to kill that little animal. He's not your brother anymore. We took away his humanity with the shot."

Why did the voice sound so gleeful? That wasn't right! But it's right. Brother, Mother and Father would all want me to live.

Tears made their ways to my eyes as I stared at my little brother, and I made no effort to stop them, "I… I'm so sorry."

He launched himself at me, foaming at the mouth, coughing up blood as he internally bled due to the shot. I tried to shut my eyes, but they disobeyed me, and I got to watch as my little brother's blood spattered on my arms.

"No… no, no!" I wailed.

But my brother smiled, "N-ne'e-chan... I… I love you."

And his spirit fled. I cried while a searing sensation came to my eyes. The men walked back into the room, gloating. They had a bunch of utensils, including a kunai. My eyes locked on it, and I moved. I now had the small knife in my hands. I looked at the man whose face was now one of shock, and stabbed him in the stomach. I moved to the next one. There were only four of them in the room. I could kill them. I would kill them. They deserved it. They killed Tou-san. They made me kill Otouto. They killed my family. They deserved to die.

And so, I killed them. Systematically and quickly. I didn't understand what my kekki genkai was doing, but it slowed them down and sent them into spasms of pain. I walked out of that white, horrid, blood washed room, and into a white, horrid, soon to be blood washed hallway.

I made my way out of the compound, killing everyone in my way. Finally, I was free. I stood in the middle of a clearing, and breathed. I was free. I wasn't going to be tortured any more. My little brother was dead. No. My father is dead. No! My family is dead!

I burst out crying. Too much. I couldn't handle it. I dragged myself over to a tree, and flopped down on the ground, bawling my eyes out. I was covered in blood, I hadn't had a bath in ages, my family was dead, and I was all alone.

I cried for a good three hours. I cried until I fell asleep. I woke up and went back in. I barely managed to get to the room my brother's corpse was in, but when I got there, I got his body and dragged him out of that horrid, white place. I felt foreign chakra signatures, and took off.

I ran through the forest, trying to find my way back to the compound. Maybe the men hadn't killed everyone. A foolish hope. When I got there, I stopped. There was a big buzz of chakra around the compound that most definitely didn't belong to anyone in my clan. I panicked, and made my way to the gates, hiding in the bushes, sticking the shadows, and hiding my chakra signature.

When I got there, I saw… Konoha shinobi. They were investigating the 'crime scene.' I had to stop myself from laughing.

'Crime scene. Pht that's funny. It's like I'm on a crime show now.'

I shook my head, grinning. The next second I wanted to cry because I knew my family was dead. I looked at the guard at the gate.

'Probably a Chunin… Hey, that looks like Genma… Except he's not. Maybe it's his dad. Haha that's funny.'

I made my decision. I hoisted my brother's body further over my shoulder, and sprinted over the wall of the compound. I knew where my dad's body was. Unfortunately, that was also where the majority of chakra signatures was. I frowned, but kept on. I looked behind me. Good. Genma's dad hadn't seen me.

I stuck to the shadows, flitting to where the slaughter had been. Then I saw my dad's corpse. It was… decaying. I wanted to break down and sob, but I needed to give both my brother and my father a proper burial. I shot myself into the clearing, sliced through the bonds holding him to the stake, and took off again, moving as fast as I could.

I didn't get too far. As I figured. But I did make it out of the compound and to the graveyard. I dropped my brother and my father, and wheeled, coming face to face with Kakashi. Who was a few years older than me. I gulped, but stood. I was ready to attack, and already had my kekki genkai out.

He stopped as soon as he saw my eyes. He was in a ready position in case I decided to attack. Then Minato got there, and stilled.

"…Hey… What's your name?" Minato asked gently.

I stared at him, "Hi…tomi."

"Hitomi, huh? Is that your dad?" He gestured to the corpse I was guarding like a lion.

I nodded and he continued, "Is that your brother?" Again, I nodded, and he asked, "Where is your mom?"

"She's dead, too. She died from a heart attack. Her grave's over there." I replied.

"What are you going to do with your brother and your father's corpses?" he asked.

"Bury them. Tou-chan said he never wanted to be cremated, and I want to be able to put flowers on Otouto's grave," I responded.

"Is that so?" Minato edged a step closer to me, and I stepped back. As much as I was fangirling inside, I was also scared. I knew I probably had a form of PTSD, and really didn't want to activate it.

Kakashi sighed, and I could tell he was impatient. Then Kushina came barreling through, sobbing, and launched herself at me. Dodging? NAH. No way. I honestly wanted nothing more than to be hugged and to cry. I didn't cry, but I did get a hug.

Kushina looked at me, "Your name is Hitomi, right? What's your last name, ttebane?"

Tears came to my eyes. She sounded and looked like my mom, "K-Kanashimi-Uzumaki," I hiccupped in the middle of it, but Kushina didn't care. She hugged me closer, and I could no longer not cry. I deactivated my kekki genkai.

Kushina petted my dirty, bloody, sweat encrusted hair while the others grabbed my brother and my father's corpses.

"What are you gonna do with them?" I asked the shinobi picking up my brother.

"You said you wanted them to be buried, right? Not cremated?" He replied.

I nodded wordlessly.

"Well, that's what we're gonna do then. You're the last survivor of your clan," He said.

I sighed, nodding again and buried my face back into Kushina. Even her chakra signature was close to my mom's. I could also feel the presence of Kurama, deep within her. I repressed a shudder that she must have mistaken as a silent sob as she petted my hair. They moved the bodies away and I slowly, blissfully, fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was on Kushina's back, being piggybacked to Konoha. I yawned and asked, "Are you taking me to Konoha?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I hope you don't mind," Kushina apologized gently.

"Nope. I don't. You remind me of Kaa-chan," I smiled.

Kushina choked, and looked like she wanted to cry. I frowned, "Don't cry. It's fine. You don't need to be sad for me. I'll be ok."

Kushina nodded and focused back on running as I allowed myself to drift back to sleep.

Blood. I looked up to see my little brother impaled on stakes above me, 'how could you! You left me. You killed me! You're the ONE wHO KILLED Me!'

His face morphed into my father's decaying corpse, and I gasped in horror as his fingers dragged across my face. I stumbled back into the man who was the one who made me kill my brother. There was another me, grinning as she stabbed him, 'Hehehe we're gonna kill them all!'

I whirled around, trying to escape the images when the image of the first man I had killed appeared in front of me, 'You're not trying to…' he appeared behind me, holding a kunai to my throat, 'Leave, are you?'

I woke up with a start, panting and sweating. I held my head in my hands, head pounding and throbbing. I almost broke down sobbing, but for the chakra signatures in the room. I looked up to see Inoichi and his father in the room. I tilted my head at them, and took stock of my surroundings. I was in a hospital room, and I looked around. White walls. I shuddered, but kept my mind off the images by staring out the window at the Hokage tower and the Hokage face mountain.

I switched my attention back to the two people in the room and asked, "Is this Konoha?"

Evidently, they weren't expecting that to be my question, as they shared a semi startled look. Inoichi's dad then said, "Yes. You're Kanashimi-Uzumaki Hitomi, ne?"

I nodded, "Nice to meet you, …?"

"Inobu, and this is my son, Inoichi," He supplied graciously.

I smiled, bobbing my head, "Is something wrong?"

"Would you like to talk about your… situation?" He then asked.

I stared at my sheets, images flashing through my head. I quickly compartmentalized my emotions before replying, "Sure. I can tell you basically what happened."

He nodded, and I began, starting with my mother's death and ending with the day I got out of the hellhole.

"What was the date of the day I came back into the compound?" I asked.

"June fourth," Inobu supplied.

I frowned, "More time passed than I thought…"

Then my stomach decided to remind me that I hadn't eaten very much recently. It did so with a huge growl, and I looked up at them, laughing sheepishly, "Can I have something to eat?"


	4. Chapter 4: Recovery

The two took me to go eat lunch. We ran into Kushina on the way, and she promptly glomped me, smothering me in hugs. I needed that.

Kushina then decided to accompany us to the lunchroom. I sat at a table, preparing to eat the hospital food when I saw Kushina's face. She looked disgusted by the food. It looked pretty good to me, but then again, I had three weeks of torture screwing with me.

"You are not eating that," Kushina decided, "Can you wait for a couple minutes? I'm gonna go grab you some ramen, ttebane!"

I nodded, and she grinned, running off. I waited for a couple minutes, and she came back with food. Ramen, to be precise. She put it down on the counter, and I smelled it. My stomach rumbled, and I grabbed a container, and began eating. It was the best tasting food I had ever tasted, besides my mom's ramen. Speaking of my mom's ramen, it kind of tasted like hers. I looked up at Kushina who was looking at me, smiling at my obvious love of the food.

I swallowed my bite and asked, "Kushina-san, this ramen reminds me of what Kaa-chan used to make. It's… like home. Did an Uzumaki make this?"

She laughed before responding, "No, but the man who did got the recipe from the Uzumakis'. I thought the same thing when I tried it for the first time."

"What is the Uzumaki clan like?" I asked.

"Well, we're loud, boisterous, we argue a lot, but we love each other. We're competitive, but loving, and in general our favorite thing is food and family, ttebane!" She grinned.

I laughed, "That sounds like Kaa-chan. And Otouto."

Saying their names, talking about family, doing the things I was doing, hurt. I shoved the knot in my throat and the wrenching of my gut down, shutting my emotions and memories away until I could sort through them.

Kushina smiled at me, "What was your mom's name, Hitomi-chan?"

"You can just call me Tomi-chan or Tomi. Takara was her name," I replied.

Her smile slid off her face, replaced by a pained but gentle expression as she said softly, "oh."

I cocked my head, "Did you know her?"

"She was like an older sister to me when we were back in the clan… before the clan's destruction…" Kushina said softly.

My eyes widened, and I immediately dropped my gaze to my soup, "I'm sorry, aa."

She shook her head, grinning at me, "Who am I kidding! I should be the one comforting you, ttebane! You're such a sweet girl. I'm glad my sis had a kid like you. And plus, I'm glad she made it out of Uzushio alive. I'd heard rumors that only a couple hundred people made it."

I looked up and smiled crookedly at her before digging back into my food. Hunger called me.

I felt Minato's chakra signature pop up behind me, and I turned around to look. He smiled down at me before asking, "Hitomi-san, would you like to go to the Academy?"

I paused in eating for a moment, mulling it over. Did I need to go to the Academy? No. However, if I wanted to make a difference in the plot, I had to start somewhere. I guess the Academy was as good a place as any. I'd be around… Itachi's age, judging from how old Kakashi was. Was I ready for people? Not really. But would I ever be? Nope. Decision made.

"Sure," I smiled at him.

He nodded at me, smiling, "How's the food?"

"It's really good," I answered honestly, "It tastes like a watered-down version of what Kaa-chan used to make, aa."

Minato's expression softened, "You're enjoying it, then?"

"Yep! Thank you very much, Namikaze-san," I smiled at him.

He chuckled, "Minato is fine."

"Well, then call me Tomi, aa," I grinned at him.

"All right, Tomi-chan," Minato smiled.

I got the chills. Just, out of nowhere, pop! We're gonna run down your spine and make you really nervous for a second!

I looked around, and froze when I spotted Danzou. Of all people, WHY did it have to be him? And WHY was he staring at me? Oh. Probably because I'm a little girl from a powerful clan that wasn't inside Konoha's walls, but still in alliance with Konoha. Beautiful. Wonderful! I can't wait to meet the geezer! (not)

He started walking towards me, and my nervousness shot up exponentially. I hadn't even noticed that I was breaking out in a cold, nervous sweat because of Danzou's chakra. His right arm was… freaky, to say the least. I could feel the oddness radiating off the concealed arm and hidden eye. I seriously wanted nothing more than to get up and run away. Instead, I stayed rooted in my seat (No pun intended).

Minato must have noticed my nervousness because he put a hand on my head. It snapped me out of my whirling thoughts, and I looked up at him. He smiled down at me, and I honestly couldn't tell whether-or-not it was fake.

Danzou walked past our table, and I had never been so glad that someone had not stopped to talk to me. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief after he was gone. Minato patted my head before removing my hand, and I noticed for the first time that Kushina was glaring in the direction Danzou had gone.

"Who was that?" I had to ask if I didn't want to seem too strange.

"Himura Danzou," Kushina said as she grabbed a container of ramen and dove into it like it was the source of all life's problems.

I tilted my head as if confused, "Is he someone important?"

"He's on the village council, Tomi-chan," Minato supplied from behind me.

"Oh," Was my simple reply.

Kushina muttered something under her breath about creeps before smiling at me, "Be careful around him, Tomi-chan. I don't like him at all."

I nodded, "I will be, Kushina-san."

"Ugh, can't you just call me Kushina?" Kushina asked.

I smiled, "Sure, Kushina, aa!"

Kushina smiled back at me while Minato said, "Well, after you finish your meal, Tomi-chan, let's head to the Hokage's office and get you registered."

"Hai!" I responded.

I shoveled the rest of my food down, thanked Kushina for getting it for me, and left the hospital with Minato to go register for the Academy. I finished filling out the papers when Minato told me that the Hokage wanted to meet me.

"Oh," Was my reply, "Do I hand these in to him, then? Or do I hand them to someone else?"

"He'll take them. Follow me," Minato smiled, turning around and walking down the hall.

I nodded, following after him, my heart in my throat. I was meeting the Hokage. The HOKAGE. Or, at least, one of them. Would I meet all the Hokage? I intended to be alive for the Fourth Shinobi World War, so I would hope I would get to meet them. But still. I was following one of the most powerful people in the Narutoverse like a little duckling, on my way to meet Sarutobi, the current king of Ninjadom. Yeah, I'm fine. Totally not freaking out at all.

Minato turned around to look at me, amusement written on his face, "We're here. Do you want me in the room?"

"I'd appreciate it, Minato-san," I bobbed my head, looking at the two ANBU guards posted outside the door.

Minato smiled at me, and held the door. I walked in, and was greeted by the scent of tobacco. I crinkled my nose in distaste. I had never liked the smell of smoke. Sarutobi sat at his desk, and at my entrance, he smiled. I hesitantly smiled back at him.

"Kanashimi-Uzumaki Hitomi?" he asked.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," I bowed, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Please, take a seat. Minato," The Hokage acknowledged the other man's presence.

Minato bowed in response, "Sarutobi-san."

I took a seat in front of Sarutobi. He smiled at me, his face reminiscent of my grandfather in my 'past' life.

"Hitomi-chan, are you enjoying your time in Konoha so far?" He asked.

"Yes. It's really nice here. Kushina-san is awesome. I haven't met anybody else except Inobu-san and… Inoichi-san? Yeah, I think that's his son's name. They seemed all right," I replied thoughtfully.

"I heard you saw Danzou?" Sarutobi asked. Immediately red flags went off in my brain.

I frowned a little bit, "Yes, sir."

Sarutobi's interest spiked, "What did you think about him?"

"I don't know," I replied, scowling a little.

"Hm. Well, you do know that Danzou is one of my most trusted advisors, right?" Sarutobi chuckled in amusement.

"Hai. I do," I ducked my head a little bit

He shook his head, "So, you wanted to join the Academy?"

"Hai! I'm looking forward to being a Leaf Shinobi. If I can be just a little bit like Minato-san or Kushina-sa- er I mean Kushina, I'll be very, very happy," I smiled.

Sarutobi nodded, then asking, "And how are you?"

I stopped and thought before answering, "Physically? Fine. A little on the malnourished side, but that's going away. Other than that, I'm grieving, and coping with some PTSD-ish stuff, but ok."

Sarutobi looked at me again, "Hitomi-chan, how old are you, again?"

"Umm… Six-ish? I don't know. My birthday is July 7, what is today's date?" I asked.

"Today is the first of July," I could hear Minato's smile as he supplied the answer.

"Oh. Well would you look at that," I grinned.

Sarutobi looked at me again before shooting Minato a look that I couldn't decipher, and before I could even try he asked, "What class would you qualify as, do you think?"

"Umm… I don't know. I know one or two genjutsus. I'm pretty good, for a pre-genin, at taijutsu, I can form a super shaky chakra blade with chakra control, I have the tree and water walking exercises down to a t, I'd been working for a while on coating every hair on my head in chakra, and was pretty much done with it, but it took me forty minutes to do… And I really enjoy sealing," I thought out loud.

"All right. I'll put you in… class 4, with Itachi-kun. He's around your age," Sarutobi smiled.

I was shocked. I was good enough to keep up with little mister prodigy himself, Itachi Uchiha. Not that I was supposed to know who he was.

"Uh, who is 'Itachi'-san?" I asked Sarutobi.

"Uchiha Itachi. You've heard of the Uchiha clan, right?" Sarutobi asked.

"Oh! Yes, sir! Thank you very much," I smiled at him.

Sarutobi chuckled, "You're very welcome, Hitomi-chan. I would like to talk to you about a guardian situation."

I crinkled my nose. That's right. I may have been an adult, mentally, at this point, but I still needed a guardian because to everyone else, I was a six-year-old little girl. Poo.

"Who do you have in mind, Hokage-sama?" I asked.

"Well, we have several people who wish to take you in. Among them is Kushina-san and, by extension, Minato-san," Sarutobi said.

I turned around to look at Minato in surprise. Well, it made sense, and I really did love Kushina. Plus, she had said that my mom had been like a sister to her…

I turned back around to look at Sarutobi, "Are you asking me who I would prefer?"

"Yes. I am," Sarutobi replied succinctly.

"May I see the list, please?" I asked.

"Yes. Here you are," Sarutobi smiled.

I took the list and looked it over. Hmm… Wow… a lot of people wanted the little Uzumaki/ Kanashimi child. Unfortunately, it wouldn't make sense if I decided to let myself be under the guardianship of anyone but Kushina or Minato, as they were the people who were closest related to me. I looked up, "I'll stick with family, if Kushina-s- ,er, Kushina and Minato-san will really have me."

Sarutobi smiled at me, "Good. Minato? Will you have her?"

I looked back at Minato, who was smiling like the ray of sunshine he was, "Gladly."

"Good. I have the papers for you to sign. From now on, Hitomi-chan, you are under the guardianship of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki," Sarutobi said, a gentle happiness written on his face as he got out the papers and slid them forward on the desk, "Please have these signed by tonight, by all parties."

I nodded and quickly read through the fine print. Nothing was out of order, so I signed it, then handed it to Minato, putting the pen I had grabbed out of the pen holder on the table back into the holder.

He took it and grinned at me. I smiled back at him.

My birthday came and went. Kushina decided that she would throw a big party with lots of cake for me, and even though I didn't have any friends to come over, it was a grand time. I still missed my 'old' 'new' parents, though I expected this to be the case for most of my new life. (Oxymorons!)

I was living with Kushina and Minato. Honestly, the rush that I got from that never got old. I was living with Naruto's parents. The nightmares hadn't gone away, but I was going through counseling, and was coping. Then the Academy started. Kushina was so funny. She was such a mother hen. I wasn't going to allow stupid plot to kill her. Not this time. She was a real person, flesh and blood, and she was my family now. (As weird as that seemed.)

I waved bye to the two of them and ran to school. I was almost late. I got inside and sat down just as the bell rang. But before class started, the teacher called me up.

'Great! It's a meet and greet!' I cackled internally.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" the teacher asked.

"Ok," I said before turning to the rest of the class, grinning. I saw Itachi in the back, a couple seats over from where I had chosen to sit, "Yo! I'm an anomaly in a space time-continuum that is this life. You can refer to me as Kanashimi-Uzumaki Hitomi, aa! Or, if you're like me and hate formalities, call me Tomi-chan! I hope to get along with the lot of you, aa!"

I looked at my teacher, and she smiled at me, "Thank you, Hitomi-chan. You can go back to your seat now."

I nodded, skipping up and plopping in my seat, getting incredulous stares from random people. I wanted to burst out cackling. I bet half of them had no clue what I had just said. Great!

The teacher told us to open our books, and so began the most boring classes ever.

After about an hour of class, I began working on seals in my boredom. I designed a storage seal, and started stealing bits of junk from underneath the seats to put in it. Once I had it filled, I made another one, and so on. Then, after I had cleaned the room of trash, I moved on to trying to steal sleeping people's pencils. This was a ton of fun, because when people woke up and reached for their pencils to write something down, they weren't there.

I grinned. Pranks were fun.

Then lunch break came, and I was bombarded with kids.

"Hey, you said your last name was Uzumaki, right? Are you related to the Bloody red Habanero?" "Is your orange eye natural?" "What's an anomaly?" "How old are you?" "How come you're in our class? You're too young!" "Is your pupil supposed to be white?"

It was a mess of questions, so I managed to silence the crowd by projecting chakra into my voice and saying, "OI!"

The poor people closest to me almost had their eardrums burst. I grinned, deactivating my chakra-enhanced voice, "Well. Ooh! Let's turn this into a question and answer session! If you've got a question, sit cross-legged on the grass, and I'll go around and answer by raised hand. Please, pay attention. I don't wanna have to repeat myself over and over again. If someone answers your question, then leave. If you wanna hear the answers to all the questions I get asked, stick around. I don't particularly care. Kay! First kid! One with the brown hair over there, aa!"

I went through and answered kids' questions. Some questions popped up more than once, at which I simply refused to answer them. Ask someone who was paying attention.

After a while, I had managed to answer the majority of people's questions. I then went off and looked around, trying to spot Itachi. When I saw him, the kid was alone in a corner, eating lunch by himself. (Not counting the blood-thirsty fangirls spying on him.) I walked over and flopped down in a cross-legged position across from him.

He stared at me with an odd look on his face. I raised my eyebrow at him.

After a minute of a stare off, he asked, "Why are you over here?"

"We're around the same age, right? I figured I should get to know you," I replied.

He gave me a funny look, "I thought you were their age…?"

"Ppht, no. I'm six. How old are you?" I asked.

"The same," Itachi answered shortly.

"Aa. See? Besides, I'm way too short to be one of them. I have to grow another foot to get anywhere close to their heights, aa," I shrugged, "Wait, did you think I was a midget or something?"

"… it did cross my mind," Itachi admitted quietly, embarrassed.

I cackled, "You're funny. What's your name, aa?"

He looked startled that I didn't know his name, "Uchiha Itachi."

"Thought so. Nice to meet you. I'm guessing that you heard my intro earlier. Unless you're deaf. But then we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we? Anyway, you know who I am, I know who you are. Wanna be friends?"

He looked at me like I was an alien (which, technically, I was) before quietly replying, "I'm not sure."

"Kay. Well, you think about it, aa? I'll be eating lunch with you every day I can find you until you decide," I grinned at him.

He looked a little unnerved, so I amended, "Don't worry. I'm not a stupid fangirl. You're pretty, sure. I don't give a crap. You're human first and foremost."

His look of 'you might be an alien' turned into one of, 'you're definitely an alien and I don't know what to do.'

I grinned at him, and dove into my food.


	5. Chapter 5: Seals, Shisui and a Prank

A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay in putting this chapter out. I needed a day to breathe from stuff. Hope you don't mind. Reviews are much appreciated!

* * *

I was in a good mood. It'd been a wonderful first day, even though I was bored out of my skull by classes. I had my homework in my bag, and skipped into the house that Minato and Kushina were sharing.

"Tadaima!" I called happily. Kushina answered, "Okaeri!"

I grinned, running into the kitchen where she was making dinner.

"Onigiri? Is Minato not home tonight?" I asked.

"Aa. He's on a mission, again, ttebane," Kushina smiled.

I 'tsk'ed and shook my head, "He always leaves you all alone, Kushina. That's ok, though, because you have me, aa!" I launched myself at her, hugging her.

She laughed, smiling, "How was your first day?"

"It was good. There's this dude, aa. His name's Itachi. He's an Uchiha, and I'm going to become friends with him. He's introverted, though, so it's a struggle just to get him to talk. I had to engage him in a staring contest in order to get him to say anything, aa. Then he decided he didn't know whether or not he wanted to be my friend. I'm not gonnna go anywhere until he decides that being my friend is a good idea, aa! He's too shut off from the rest of the class. It's people like that that get ostracized," I rambled.

Kushina smiled at me, "Sounds like a good first day. What about classes?"

"They're classes. They're pretty easy. Homework sucks. Speaking of homework, I need to go do it. I'll come back in once I'm done with it, and tell you about the rest of my day," I grinned and went into the living room.

Five minutes later found me back in the kitchen, telling Kushina about the rest of my day, leaving out me being bored. We ate supper, I told her good night, and headed to my room to (hopefully) sleep after confronting some of my emotions.

I lay staring up at the ceiling, and finally approached the swirling mush pot that was my emotions. I sighed quietly. I really didn't want to deal with them, but the councilor had recommended I take a little bit at a time. Problem was, I didn't know whether-or-not I could take a little at a time, or if they would all come pouring out at once.

I took a deep breath, and began reviewing events, reliving them in my mind. The pain, the sadness, the loneliness, and the desperation all came back, rushing to my brain like a freight train. I flipped over, and started sobbing into the pillow. I sobbed myself to sleep that night, and was plagued by nightmares afterwards. My brother reaching to stab out my eyes, the bandits jeering him on, my father murdering me, me having fun murdering other people, other people killing me. Just wonderful things like that.

My mind really hated me.

I woke up, panting from the most recent nightmare, and looked at the clock. It was only five. I exhaled, slowly observing my room and forcing myself to clear my mind. I got up and headed to the restroom. When I came back, Minato was outside my room.

He said quietly, "You're having nightmares?"

I sighed, answering in the same tone, "Yeah."

"Would you like to talk about them?"

I stopped, thinking for a second before replying. My first instinct was to say no, but I knew that that meant I needed to talk about them even more.

"… sure," I looked up at him.

He looked down at me, and I was struck by how small I was. I shook my head, and followed him into the living room where we sat on the couch.

He waited for me to speak.

"They're mainly about killing, being killed, hating, and being hated. I had two or three where I was stuck… back…" I shook my head, the memories of being tortured rearing their ugly heads.

"Back…? Where?" Minato's quiet question forced me out of my thoughts.

I gulped, "In the white rooms. Where they tortured us. Or me. They didn't let me see my brother until the day I… killed him."

I had found the edge of the coffee table very interesting suddenly, so I didn't see Minato's expression as he asked, "Have you had any nightmares about enjoying killing the people who hurt you?"

I swallowed, my mouth dry, "Yes, but at the same time, no. I was never actually in my body for those. Some psycho-maniac was in my body, cackling about killing them. I… really hate those dreams. They're also the most common."

"Which dream do you hate the most?" Minato asked.

I thought for a second. How could I choose one to hate the most? Oh. Wait, "The ones where I wake up from a nightmare in the dream. Or should I say, my memories. And when I wake up, in the dream, my little brother, my mom, and my dad are all there. They're worried about my nightmares. Then we eat breakfast together and my brother and I go out to play. Then the nightmare inside the dream becomes a reality, and I relive my memories. Except, this time, it's me who gets injected with the serum of death and my brother is forced to... kill his older sis who's… who's foaming at the mouth."

I was shaking badly. Not that I realized this until Minato hugged me. Then came the tears. I sobbed silently. I clung to his shirt until my quiet sobs stopped. I unhooked myself from the position I had been in and looked over at the clock. The light slowly filtered through the windows. It was six o' clock. I smiled, wiping my face, the familiar feeling of puffy eyelids and sensitive skin greeting my hand.

"Do you feel better now, Tomi-chan?" Minato asked, still keeping his voice low.

I nodded, "Thank you, Minato-san. Thank you for all you've done for me."

He ruffled my hair, and I glared at his hand. Not that he could do much to my bedhead, but still. "I'm glad to do it, Tomi-chan."

I exhaled, suddenly feeling loads lighter, "I still owe you my gratitude. I'm going to get some breakfast. Thank you for listening, Minato-san."

His face lit up like the ray of sunshine he was, "You're welcome, Tomi-chan. And really, call me Minato."

A smile found itself on my face as I replied, "Ok, Minato."

Kushina woke up at the smell of food, and I packed up my bags. I got out the door early, waving bye to Kushina and Minato, heading to school. I was at school fifteen minutes early. Immediately, I began scheming. Kushina had given me a small allowance. A prank that I had wanted to do for a while in my past life immediately came to mind. My poor sensei was going to hate me (If she ever found out).

I sat down in class next to Itachi, a smug smile on my face. He gave me a weird look before ignoring me, but when I started rustling around in my bag in the middle of the teacher's lecture, his interest peaked. He watched me take out a small storage seal and put it on my desk. I put a seal over the existing one, waited five minutes, and then put it back in my bag.

An hour later, I took it out again, used chakra strings to slip it under the desks, and flung the scroll out from underneath the middle row. The scroll went up into the room, before exploding and disappearing into oblivion while a raw slab of duck meat flew, along with three rolls of confetti paper, toward my teacher. She didn't look up in time.

Silence. Pure, unadulterated silence resounded in the room while I tried my darnedest to restrain myself from laughing. Then one kid laughed, and the room erupted into utter chaos. My poor sensei had a duck carcass on her head, was covered in streamers and confetti, and nobody had any idea of who did it.

As for Itachi's face. He was mortified beyond all rationality. But the rest of the class was roaring with laughter. Of course, that was when the next-door class came to see what was up. And they burst into laughter. Soon, we had over half of the school roaring with laughter, and teachers trying to figure out who had done the prank.

The rest of the day was mayhem. Teachers would occasionally call people they thought might be guilty to the office. They never did find out it was me.

I went skipping home that day, too. Except that Itachi stopped me outside the building.

"Hitomi-san?" He asked.

"C'mon. Call me Tomi. It's not the end of the world to drop formalities," I rolled my eyes.

He sighed, "Why did you prank the teacher?"

"Because class was boring, it was funny, and I got people to laugh," I shrugged.

He looked at me sideways, "I don't understand. Got people to laugh?"

I grinned at him, "Yeah. I like making people happy. Today was a good day for a lot of people because of that prank. It made their day. It made them happy."

"But they don't know it was you who did it?" Itachi frowned at me.

I shrugged, "I'm good with that. They don't need to. Anyway, I've gotta get home, aa. Kushina's prally waiting for me." I skipped a few steps before stopping, looking over my shoulder, "You should smile more. The world isn't going anywhere just yet," before continuing, whistling.

I got home, and told Kushina about my day. She roared with laughter about the prank, and I hinted that it was me who orchestrate it. She told me she was proud of me. That counted as a good day in my book.

The next few days went by with relatively no incident (Beside my monster nightmares, of course, some counselling, and overall craziness that I caused). Then, Itachi finally made up his mind that he wanted to be my friend. I grinned, and went home happy again. The day after that, I met Shisui.

"This is my friend, Uchiha" Shisui cut Itachi off.

"Man, I have had enough formalities for today! Yo! I'm Shisui! Nice to meet you, Hitomi! 'Tachi's been telling me lots about you. You're pretty special, huh?" He eyed me critically.

I returned the look, "Naaah. Being an anomaly in a time space continuum is pretty standard issue."

He gave me a weird look before laughing, "Oh, we're gonna get along."

"I must say I agree," I grinned, high-fiving him.

After that, I stuck with Itachi and Shisui, and expanded my friend circle until I was on good terms with pretty much everyone. I stuck by Itachi as my closest friend, always reverting to him when other people got on my nerves.

Everyone thought I was weird, but I rolled with it. I had never had that much fun in my 'past' life, so doing this in this life was highly entertaining. I did get picked on at first for my weird colored eye and hair, but proving to them that I was able to fend for myself made them back off. I also fended off most of Itachi's fangirls for him. That was hard. And it sucked. But I put up with it, and he was eternally grateful.

'Hahaha Itachi Uchiha owes me a favor,' I mentally cackled one day at lunch.

Itachi gave me a concerned look, and I realized that my 'mental' cackle had probably actually escaped me. I smiled at him and he got the chills, "I don't like where this is going."

"Nah, it won't be too bad. I'm not a completely awful person, aa. Goodness, you have no faith," I waved off his concerns.

He looked at me skeptically, but I just smiled at him, shoving another bite of food in my mouth.

"You look tired," Itachi observed.

"Meh. Haven't been getting much sleep. Nightmares tend to be evil that way," I commented off handedly.

He looked at me, alarmed, "Nightmares?"

"Ack. You sound so affronted. Yeah, nightmares. Why?" I asked him.

"How long have you been having nightmares?" He asked.

"Uh… since before I came here?" I offered, confused.

"Are you getting therapy for them?" He asked.

"Yes. But the nightmares will probably never completely go away, Itachi. It's fine," I waved my hand and ate another bite of food.

"What are you having nightmares about?" Itachi asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Stuff."

"Hitomi," Itachi raised an eyebrow.

I sighed, finished my bite and flopped backwards onto the grass while rolling my eyes, "My family."

"What about them?"

"The night of their deaths," I replied.

I couldn't see his face. Nor did I want to. I was staring at a cloud, squinting to be able to see.

"What… happened around their deaths to make you have nightmares?" He asked cautiously.

I sighed, sitting up. I looked at him and decided to just tell him. I activated my kekki genkai, the swirls of red, orange and yellow under my orange and white pupiled eye appearing, and the swirls of blue, green, and purple appearing under my usually brown eye, which changed to teal blue with a white pupil.

"See this?" I pointed to my eyes, "These are my clan's, the Kanashimi's, kekki genkai. We have the ability to control temperature. We can boil, melt, freeze, and slow pretty much anything."

Itachi gaped before stuttering, "That's… that could be enormously powerful…"

I shrugged, "But the price is awful. The price for these eyes is that you have to watch everything and everyone you ever loved get killed, be tortured, and finally, you either have to be betrayed by the person you loved most, or watch them die in some form or another."

I lazily traced a design in the dirt, "So yeah. That's what happened to my family. Except for my mom. She died of a heart attack a couple weeks before the bandits came and attacked us. They managed to kill everyone and force my brother and I to watch. My brother and I were taken to the bandits' fortress, where they tortured us for a couple weeks, and then injected my brother with the syrup of death by rabies, and I had to kill him. The end."

I looked up to see him staring at me, caught between horror and sadness. I smiled at him, deactivating my kekki genkai, "There you have it."

He gulped, and looked back down at his lunch. He then asked after a minute, "Do… do you have scars? You always wear those bandages… is that what they're for?"

"Yep," I answered shortly.

Itachi shook his head, "Sorry for asking. How… How did you get out? They wanted your eyes, right?"

I smiled and told him. Really, the kid was too smart for his own good.

He stared at me, "You killed them all?"

"Yep," I shrugged, "And I don't regret it. I'd do it over again."

Itachi swallowed, shaking his head in disbelief, "I could never imagine that happening to my family."

I smiled at him, "You probably will be able to, one day. But be glad you can't right now. And don't dwell on it. Enjoy the people you have, because they'll be dead one day."

"How… how did you make it through? How were you smiling on the first day of class?"

"I actually have no clue. Maybe it's because I knew my family wanted the best for me. They wanted my happiness. So, the least I could do was fulfill their wishes, I guess... Anyway. Do you want to change the topic to something happier? Like butterflies?" I asked, gesturing to a Swallowtail.

He nodded, and we spent the rest of lunch talking about nature.

After that, Itachi started sharing some stuff with me about his clan. He felt pressured, he admitted one day at lunch.

I grumbled, "Stupid Uchiha and their overachieving idiocy."

Itachi had blinked at me, evidently in shock. I raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

He shook his head, going back to eating. He never did tell me what he was thinking. Oh, well.

I spent my days in school working on seals. They had caught Itachi's eye, but he had no idea how they worked, and he couldn't figure them out for the life of him. I just laughed and pointed out that everyone has something they can't do, and that's what friends are for. He reluctantly agreed with me. Years of being of an Uchiha had taught him that it was unacceptable to be less than stellar at anything. I smacked him upside the head for that and told him that his clan was wrong.

Shisui met the two of us outside school, and we went for dango. I worked on seals the entire time they were discussing stuff. I was designing a seal that would hold Kurama stably and not require too much extra effort. I was not going to let Minato, the idiot, die this time around.

Shisui looked at my seal, and his eyes just about popped out of his head, "Whoa! Hitomi! Where'd you learn to seal like that?"

I looked up at him and thought for a moment before replying, "First few years, I was taught by my mom. After that, I was on my own. I'm pretty much self-taught." Inside my mind, I added, 'and I've been working on them at night when sleeping would equal too much emotional trauma to get out of bed the next morning, but you guys don't need to know that.' Shisui's eyes bulged out even more (if that was possible), and I restrained myself from laughing, settling for grinning cockily, "What, you jelly?"

"Much jelly! That's so not fair!" Shisui ranted, "How come you can seal so awesomely!"

I laughed, then went into shock as Itachi repeated my words from earlier in the day.

Shisui was startled as well, "Who gave you that kernel of wisdom?"

Itachi pointed to me, while I just sat there, flabbergasted.

Shisui whistled, "You're so much cooler than anybody else, Tomi. Don't change."

I wiped my expression off and grinned, "You're pretty cool yourself, Shisui. Don't sell yourself short."

He laughed, and I perked up when I felt a weird chakra come our way. It was immensely powerful, but wasn't anyone I recognized. Then, a minute later, Jiraiya stopped in front of our stall. I gaped.

Shisui had (I swear) stars in his eyes while Itachi appeared kind of confused.

"Which one of you is working on seals?" Jiraiya asked.

I weakly raised my hand.

"Ooh, a pretty little lady! Let me see them, won't you?" he asked.

I nodded mutely, handing him the piece of paper I was practicing on. Jiraiya stilled, and then looked over at me, blinking rapidly, "What are you planning to seal, little girl? A tailed beast?"

I found my tongue the second he mentioned tailed beasts, "Yes, actually. I figured it would be good practice to try to make a seal that would safely seal a tailed beast. I've run out of exercises in the scroll my mom gave me."

Jiraiya took another look at me, squinting, "Are you Kushina's kid or something?"

I laughed, "No. I am part Uzumaki, though. My mom was like Kushina's big sis once."

Jiraiya's eyebrows shot up towards his hairline, "Well, I'll be taking this."

"Ah! Wait! Can I copy it first? I don't want to lose all of my work," I the words came tumbling out of my mouth.

Jiraiya sighed, "Kiddo, you're not supposed to experiment with this kind of seal."

"I wasn't going to actually apply it, aa. I would never. It's faulty. As in really, super faulty. It wouldn't seal a rock in its current condition. I wanted to do this because I want to get better at seals, and this is one of the ways I can improve. I was going to shred it into a million pieces and burn it afterwards, anyway. Please? I really don't want to lose my work," I pleaded.

"Kid... Fine. I'll let you copy it. My name's Jiraiya, though I think you already knew that. Talk to Minato when you're done with it, and he'll send it to me. Ok?" Jiraiya asked.

"Aa!" I cheered, "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya looked kind of embarrassed, "No problem, kiddo. Do you know where Kushina and Minato are?"

"Kushina should be at home. Minato is probably out on a mission. He could be at home, too, though. It wouldn't surprise me," I replied.

"You sound like you live with them, kiddo," Jiraiya eyed me skeptically.

"It's cuz I do. Kushina's a little like a second mom, and Minato is… A cross between an older brother and a dad," I chuckled.

Jiraiya cackled at my analogy for Minato, "What's your name, girlie?"

"Kanashimi-Uzumaki Hitomi," I grinned.

Jiraiya's smile slid off his face as he regarded me in a new light, "… your last name is Kanashimi-Uzumaki?"

"Aa," my smile slid off my face as well, and I tilted my head as I asked, "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head, a grin back on his face, "Nope! Anyway, it was nice talking to you, kiddo! See you around!"

He disappeared quickly and I sighed in relief.

* * *

A/N: Does anybody know what Inoichi's dad's real name is? I've been trying to find it for forever, but haven't have any luck.


	6. Chapter 6: Prodigy

A/N: Sorry for another late update. Hopefully you guys can forgive me? Anyway, here goes!

* * *

"So, care to share about sealing a Tailed Beast?"

After finishing our dango, Itachi had run off, saying his father needed him for training, while Shisui stated his wish to talk to me.

I rolled my eyes, "I didn't mean it like that. Just that I wasn't getting any better with seals that are normal, so I figured that I should seriously practice seals that are meant for much bigger, and much more dangerous things."

"Huh. How'd you know what a Tailed Beast was?"

"Dude, have you never read the story about the Sage of the Six Paths? It's one of the best fiction books ever. And, I figured, that since all accounts seem to agree that the Sage pretty much founded Ninjadom, I also figured that he might be real, and hypothetically, the Tailed Beasts as an extension. I asked Kushina about it, and surprise, not surprise, they do exist. It's not like I'm ever going to get the chance to actually practice the seal, anyway. Nor do I want to," I grimaced.

Shisui snorted, evidently trying not to laugh.

"What?" I rolled my eyes.

"Just… you're so much smarter than anybody gives you credit for. I saw your grades on the Academy billboard. You're the perfect middle of the class, but Itachi is at the head. I know for a fact that you should be at the head. Why?" he stopped in the middle of the street, and was boring into me with his eyes.

I shrugged, "I don't want to be first, so I'm not. Mediocre is fine for me. Takes less effort. Less effort means more time that I can spend working on stuff that is going to actually count. Such as learning new techniques, enhancing my taijutsu, practicing seals, doing mental exercises, and stuff like that."

"But you're not even a genin yet. Why would you need to be that strong? You'll have teachers to help you with that later," Shisui frowned.

"Anyone who waits for guidance in anything they can work on themselves without causing a danger to others or themselves is a fool," I replied harshly, "I work hard because I know that at any second this peaceful world we have can come crashing down around us." I met his unbelieving stare, "I want peace. But the best way for me to even dream of that, Shisui, is to prepare for war."

Shisui stared after me for a moment before asking quietly, "Am I fool, then as well?"

I shrugged, "Only if you don't change your ways to accommodate. The fool keeps in his ways, the wise changes them. I think you're wise, Shisui, but I'll still count you as my friend, even should you decide that being wise is too hard to accomplish. Because it _is_ hard. It's easy to get complacent and lax. It's hard to keep driving yourself when no one else will."

"Tomi," Shisui frowned, then chuckled dryly, "Are you sure you're not a grown-up?"

I smiled at him, "Positive. Ooh! Wanna race to my house? No chakra."

He waggled his eyebrows, "I'm always up for it."

I rolled my eyes, "Ready? Set! GO!"

We took off. He beat me, of course. Age difference interfering, along with body mass, and all that jazz. When we got to the door, he waved good bye to me and headed back the way we'd come. I walked inside, waving back at him. I took off my shoes and walked in the living room.

This was NOT what I was expecting when I got home. Minato was waiting for me, Jiraiya was sitting on the couch, and Kushina was tapping her foot impatiently in the corner of the room closest to the kitchen.

"Ok… what'd I do now?" I asked.

"Did you know that the Kyuubi was sealed inside Kushina?" Minato asked pointedly.

I opened and closed my mouth once, "Uh… yes? Am I in trouble for sensing it?"

"Were you going to use that seal on her, at any time?" Minato was uncharacteristically cold.

"No. Never. I wouldn't dream of it, aa," I replied firmly.

Jiraiya eyed me, "Kiddo, were you really just trying to get better at sealing?"

"Yes, sir. Practicing storage seals wasn't getting me anywhere, so I thought that if I wanted to make any progress at all, ever, I'd have to aim for bigger things. The first thing that popped into mind was a Tailed Beast! Those things are huge, and are usually sealed into Jinchuriki. I don't know much about how they're usually sealed, but I do know that it's not a pleasant process. I wanted to see if I could create a seal that would lessen the strain on both Jinchuriki and the Tailed Beast. But this seal is pretty much trash. I could probably still use the first two layers, but after that, it just falls apart. I'm not actually ever going to be sealing a Tailed Beast, ok? I'm not stupid, aa!"

My rant seemed to satisfy Jiraiya and Minato. Kushina caught something in my speech that she wasn't willing to let go, though, "You said you sensed it… When?"

"Aheh… Well, the first time I saw you, I sensed it. It's really tiny, but it's there. Should I have told you?"

"Are... Were you scared of it? Of me?" Kushina asked.

I laughed, "Nope! Kushina, you're you and the Tailed Beast is the Tailed Beast. You're two separate entities entirely. Its chakra texture is angry, sad, and coarse while yours is hot, fiery and full of life. It's really easy to tell the difference between the two of you."

Kushina looked at Jiraiya, Jiraiya looked at Minato, and Minato looked between me and Jiraiya.

"Anyway, am I… ok to keep working on the seal?" I asked.

Jiraiya sighed and sat back, "Honestly, there's nothing really to stop you… but you can never use it on anyone. Ever."

"I understand that, Jiraiya-sama," I bowed.

Minato sighed, "Good. Then all is well."

I nodded, then spoke up after a minute of awkward silence, "Well, if you guys don't want me for anything else, I'm heading to my room to finish my homework."

Minato nodded and Kushina smiled. I smiled back at her, and ran down the hall next to the kitchen, making a beeline for my room.

I got there and jumped onto the bed, sitting there for a moment, allowing my thoughts to sort themselves out, 'Holy shit, what the hell was that? Ok. Well, I'm glad I got out of that unscathed. I think. Let's see… I'll work more on that later... Anyway, I should probably go over plot stuff after I finish my homework…'

I had written out the plot for Naruto (In five different languages; always was good with vocabulary), including a way to keep Itachi from becoming Anbu (Not that I knew if it would work). No matter how hard I stared at it, there wasn't a way for me to keep the Kyubi from escaping on October tenth without telling someone what I knew… And that was not about to happen. As for Shisui, I was still brainstorming on that. Hopefully, I'd be able to keep him from doing anything bat-shit insane like committing 'suicide.' But I hadn't really worked that far ahead yet.

I knew what I wanted to change. But I didn't always know how. I returned to the October tenth problem, as that was highest on my list of priorities. The question was: How to keep Minato from sealing the Kyubi? Looking at my seal, I knew that the first and second layers were perfect. The third needed to be reworked. And the rest was trash. I just had to figure it out. It was September. I had until October of next year. Well, I've got a bit of time to try.

I finished my homework quickly, and got out more paper for the seal. I then set to work. Time passed quickly, and I didn't even notice when it passed eleven o' clock. That was when Minato came in. I felt his presence, but was in the middle of a brushstroke that was being awful to draw. After I had finished the brush stroke, I blew on it a bit. I had had to move down off my bed in the middle of making the seal in order to be able to fit it all.

I looked up and tilted my head at Minato, "Minato-sa-er… Minato?"

A small smile appeared on his face, "Don't you think you should be getting to bed? You've got school tomorrow."

"It's not that la- oh," I stopped short when I looked at the clock, "Whoops. Looks like time got away from me. Thanks, Minato. I'll get ready for bed right now."

Minato nodded, then looked at my seal, frowning, "May I see you seal?"

"Sure!" I replied happily.

He came over and around to the side I was on, looking at it intently. After a bit, shook his head, "How long have you been working on seals, Tomi-chan?'

I thought for a second, "Well, I guess since I was three-ish. So only three years. Wow. That's almost half my lifespan. Weird."

Minato looked at me funnily, but then shook his head, "And how long have you been working on this particular seal?"

"Uh… Well… I started it the day after I came here. Kushina-san being the Jinchuriki did kinda spark this, but I didn't really know…" I waved my hand vaguely, "Anyway, yeah."

"Well… you've gotten surprisingly far in that amount of time. Mind if I make a suggestion?" he asked.

"Yes! Please do," I nodded eagerly.

"See this line here? It should be about five millimeters that way. Then, you have room to make an intersecting line across there that would allow for a potential failsafe spot," Minato looked at me.

I stared at where he was pointing. Luckily, it wasn't the line I had just finished drawing, "Ok! Thank you very much, Minato, aa!"

Minato smiled, "You're welcome, Tomi-chan." He began walking out of the room, but stopped at the door, "You know, I could see if Jiraiya would teach you some stuff about sealing."

I looked up and nodded eagerly, "I would love that, Minato!"

Minato smiled at me over his shoulder, nodding, "I'll see if he's got the time. Go to bed, Tomi. I'll see you in the morning."

I nodded, my grin growing wider as Minato left. My mom had covered into some pretty advanced stuff with sealing, but now, hopefully, I would get some time to work on them with the Sage himself. Honestly, I couldn't wait. I was also a little nervous. Jiraiya made me feel like he could see everything I was thinking, all the time, which kind of weirded me out and made me nervous. (What with being from another world and basically knowing the future of the world). I got up, rolled up the monster seal, closed the door and got ready for bed. I crawled into the bed, and was out in minutes.

The next morning, I woke up groggy. I got up and got ready for school. I waved to Kushina as I left, and headed to class. The day went by pretty quickly, but I ended up falling asleep in class (No surprise there. Didn't get much sleep between nightmares and staying up late.) At lunch, I sat with Shisui and Itachi. After I had eaten, I asked them to wake me when the bell rang, and promptly fell asleep.

Itachi was nice enough to wake me, but I took one look at Shisui's face and knew he had done something. I raised an eyebrow at him, "What did you do?"

Shisui burst out laughing. I smiled crookedly, "Did you color on my face with marker?"

Shisui nodded, grinning from ear to ear and still going in and out of laughing fits, "Itachi, did you help?"

Itachi didn't respond. I rolled my eyes, "Well, I'm going to clean this mess off my face. See you guys in class."

Shisui snorted, failing in his attempts to reign back his laughter, while Itachi smirked at me. I got up, took my bento inside, and went to the restroom. What I found surprised me. They had drawn unicorns either pooping or farting rainbows on my face, and also drawn a mustache to complete the look. Hana Inuzuka walked in while I was trying to wash it off.

She stared dumbly, "Who did that?"

I looked at her, "My idiot friends, Itachi and Shisui."

"Eeeh? Itachi? Really? He doesn't seem like the type to do that sort of thing," Hana frowned.

"Usually he's not. Shisui must have been in a really good mood to persuade him to do this," I chuckled.

Hana stared at me, then shrugged, laughing shortly, "Well, they sure know how to make someone look ridiculous."

"Indeed." I chuckled, "Finally. Got it all off."

I left the restroom, and went to class. The bell rang right as I took my place next to Itachi and Shisui. The rest of the day went by without incident, and I went home. I took off my shoes at the door, and walked inside to find the place completely empty. I blinked, then shrugged. A piece of paper attached to the fridge caught my attention.

' _Minato's off on a mission. I'm at the Uchiha's, saying hi to Mikoto. She just learned of her pregnancy an hour ago. There's Onigiri in the fridge. Stay out of trouble! ~Kushina'_

I smiled at her note, then walking back to my room, quickly completing my homework, and then working on plot. There was no better time that the present, after all.

I frowned, and began thinking. In plot, Minato is there for Naruto's birth, along with Mikoto and Fugaku. Both of them only survived because Obito still held some love for them. As for who else was there... I tilted my head. I had no idea.

'Fantastic. I have to make sure my actions don't seriously screw with Obito's actions... If I can somehow get there while they're fighting Kurama and debating what seal to use on him... Then I can give them my seal. Question is, how can I manage to get to them in the heat of the battle? The people there won't just let me waltz over to the battlefield... Hm. Maybe I could use a Henge? No. That's too obvious. They'd notice immediately. And Kurama might screw with my senses enough to make it impossible for me to do anything. Shit. This is such a mess...'

I shook my head, frowning. I'd figure a way out. I had to. 'What about Shadow Clones? I wonder if I could get Minato to teach me them... I certainly have enough chakra...'

I frowned. If I managed to get Minato to teach me the Kage Bunshin, then my only problem would be if I could master it in time. In the anime/manga, it was a very difficult technique... I shook my head. It didn't matter. Using the Kage Bunshin with a Henge was the only way that I could think of, at the moment, to get close without raising too much suspicion... 'I need to work on my Henge.'

I got up, picked up my kunai pouch and strapped it on. I walked into the kitchen, and left a note on the fridge, ' _I'm heading out to go train. Will be back before dark.~ Tomi'_

I made my way to an empty training ground, enjoying the walk. I allowed my thoughts to spiral around the problem of October 10th. If I could manage to master Henge, to a point where it was difficult to tell whether-or-not I was using it, then I could pull off either of my plans without incident (Assuming I was able to learn Kage Bunshin in time for the second plan).

I dropped my bag of kunai and began practicing Henge. I performed it what seemed like a million times, slowly draining myself of chakra. I depleted my chakra reserves to about half, and then began to work on my physical state. After doing a hundred sit-ups, push-ups, and Russians, I began running laps around the training ground. I did ten, and was just beginning to feel the burn when I stopped. I then began to attack a training dummy, practicing with my shuriken and kunai. I felt Shisui and Itachi's chakra moving in my direction, but decided to focus on training. I'd talk to them later.

I finished with my taijutsu practice and stared at the dummy. I burst out laughing. It was shredded. I had been using the blunt kunai, but it looked as though I had hit it hard enough to puncture the fabric.

I snorted, grinning, and then began stretching to cool myself down. I was sweating like a pig by now, and was pretty tired. After stretching, I did another five laps at a slow jog, stretched again, and began to work on agility exercises. I set up a system silimar to ladders, using sticks to make it instead, and began the exercise.

I felt Itachi and Shisui stop at the top of the hill and stare at me. I finished the ladder, and began working with chakra control, waving at them with a chakra hand. By now, my reserves had regenerated a little bit, so I had enough to work on control.

Itachi and Shisui made their ways down into the field. Itachi stared at the training dummy I had gone to town on, and at the stick ladder I had set up.

"Is this how you usually train?" Shisui asked.

"Yep! It works really well. Anyway, I'm trying to work on control, so if you don't mind...?" I asked, my eyes closed while I meditated, focusing on my hair, coating each hair with chakra.

I felt the chakra in Shisui's head move in a nod, and he walked over to the dummy that Itachi was still staring at. Fifteen minutes later, they had sat down in a triangle formation while I meditated. I finished with my hair, and started to raise the hairs on my head.

Both Itachi and Shisui's eyes bulged as my hair slowly stood straight up, waving wildly around my head. I grinned at them, "See? Control."

Shisui, "Hey! Kushina does that..."

I nodded, "Yep. She's got some pretty boss chakra control."

"Boss? But that's a leader?" Itachi stared at me, very confused.

"Figure of speech," I waved my hand dismissively at him, "Anyway. You two need something?"

"No, not really. We were just walking around, Itachi and I were training, and we saw you so we decided to come over and see what's up. But now..." Shisui got 'the look' on his face that always told me what he was about to suggest was pure trouble.

I leaned forward a little, lowering my hair, "But now...?"

"I want to see you and Itachi duke it out. I don't know who'd win at this point."

Itachi shot a baleful glare at Shisui, "I don't appreciate where this has gone."

"Aww, come on, man!" Shisui exclaimed, "It'll be fun! And we'll finally see who really is the better of you two!"

I shook my head, "Sorry, Shisui. Not today. I'm really tired. Y'all were the ones who drew on my face at lunch when I fell asleep, after all. Ooh! That reminds me! Itachi! You didn't tell me you're gonna have a sibling!"

Itachi rolled his eyes at me, "I just haven't had the chance. I was going to tell you, but Shisui was talking, and my mom only found out a few hours ago."

I raised my eyebrows, "Well, tell me, now, then! Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? What are you guys going to name him/her?"

"We think it's going to be a boy, we're still debating on what to name him," Itachi said quietly.

"Hm. Could I input a name?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Sure?" Itachi said, raising an eyebrow.

"Sasuke. Like Sarutobi's dad," I grinned.

Itachi blinked for a second, and nodded. I could almost hear him thinking, 'That's actually an acceptable name.'

I grinned at him, "Anyway, Shisui, anything exciting going on at your end?"

Shisui shook his head, "Not really. Lots of excitement for 'Tachi's little brother to be born, though. Everyone's talking about it."

I shrugged, "Well, it's not everyday that the leader of a clan has another child. If it was, that'd be... uh... bad. Really, really bad."

"What do you mean?" Shisui raised an eyebrow.

I fought to keep myself from burying my face in my hands, "Nothing. Nothing. Just... Nevermind. It's nothing."

Itachi had raised an eyebrow, and was now sharing a glance with Shisui. Shisui quirked the corners of his mouth sideways and replied, "Well, if you say so."

I nodded, immensely glad that they hadn't pushed the issue. 'That would have been bad...' "Anyway, I've got to go. It's about to be dark. See you guys at school tomorrow?"

"Yep! See ya!" Shisui grinned easily, giving me a thumbs-up.

Itachi shook his head at Shisui before nodding at me. I grinned at them both, "Well, see you then! Tell your mom congrats, by the way, Itachi. Bye!" and stood, making my way home.

I entered again, taking off my shoes, "I'm back!" I waited for a moment for a response, and when none came, I was immediately suspicious. I walked into the living room to see Kushina staring at me.

I stood still, immediately aware that she was not happy, "Uh... Did I do something wrong?"

She came over, silently storming, "You weren't supposed to leave the house while I was gone."

"Oh." I blinked intelligently, "Sorry. I didn't know. It won't happen again, Kushina-san."

She sighed, "You had me really worried. At least tell me which training ground you're going to, next time."

I nodded, "Will do. Today was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, so I actually didn't know which training ground I was going to until I got there. I'll work harder to plan these things, next time."

Kushina sighed, nodding, "Good. You haven't eaten?"

When I shook my head in a 'no,' she promptly replied, "Then go get cleaned up and then come eat. What were you doing out there during training that got you so dirty?"

"Agility exercises. Sorry. I'll be out in a minute! Thanks, Kushina!"

She nodded, and I ran to go get a shower. Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the kitchen, my hair damp, eating onigiri. Kushina asked me about me about my day, I told her what had happened, and then she started asking about my training schedule, "What do you do for a training schedule?"

"Well, I usually start off with stretching and meditation. Then I do anywhere from a hundred to a hundred-fifty push-ups, Russians, and sit-ups. After that, I do laps, stretch, and begin working jutsu in general. Today, I practiced Henge. After I've gotten down to about half of my chakra, I move onto taijutsu, and then stretch again, after doing half the amount of laps I did for starters. Then, I begin work on agility, and after that, chakra control. Then I meditate, and am done," I replied.

Kushina stared at me, "Is that the training schedule you had while... you know, in your clan?"

I nodded, "Yep! Though half of it was self-imposed. I made most of the schedule up."

Kushina tilted her head at me, and I could see the non-existent gears turning in her head. I tilted my head in the opposite direction from her, meeting her eyes, "What?"

"Tomi, are you purposefully lowering your grades?" Kushina asked suddenly.

I kept my head in the tilted position, "Yeah, why?"

She ignored my question, asking instead, "Why?"

"Because I don't want to be a prodigy."


	7. Chapter 7: Best Friends and Dinners

A/N: Hahaha. Can't stick to my schedule, no matter what I do. :'| Anyway, here's a chapter a day early because I won't be available tomorrow and Sunday! And... Reviews are great. Follows and favorites make me dance for joy. Thanks to all you guys who have followed and favorite'd. You make my day. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Kushina stared at me for a minute.

"You don't want to be a prodigy…?" She asked.

I nodded, at which she continued, "Why?"

"Because it's extra pressure. This way, nobody thinks I'm super special. I'm already one of the youngest in the class, along with Itachi. So, I'd just tick people off by being super excellent. Plus, not giving it my all gives me time to do other, more important things. Such as building and retaining relationships, training, and studying. The benefits outweigh the losses," I said blandly.

Kushina sighed, and a pained look crossed her face as she looked at me. I tilted my head at her, "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Just… God. They took away your childhood," She furrowed her brows dejectedly.

I shrugged, "If you say so," and took another bite of the onigiri. I finished the meal, got off the stool, gave her a hug and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up two minutes before the alarm on my clock sounded. I stayed in the bed for those two minutes, enjoying the sounds of birds chirping outside the window. It had been the first night since the... the 'incident' that I had gotten a nightmare-free sleep. Of course, I had been thoroughly exhausted, both physically and mentally, the day before so it wasn't a huge surprise. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and shivered. The floor was cold under my bare feet. I started regulating my chakra, and was playing with a strand of it in my hand when the alarm went off. I used the chakra string to turn off the annoying noise, and got up out of bed. I began getting ready for the day.

Kushina walked out of the bedroom, her hair mussed, and yawned, "Ohayo, Tomi... You eat breakfast...?"

I nodded. I was packing my bento when she asked. I finished packing it, and ran to grab my bags. I headed out the door with a final goodbye, and went to school. I took time to notice everything around me, listening to the birds, looking at the Fall's colors. I got to the Academy on time, and headed into first class. Itachi and Shisui were waiting for me. I was early, but Uchiha early and everyone else's early are two things entirely. I smiled and sat down.

"You look... really well rested, Tomi," Shisui observed.

I grinned at him, "First night without nightmares last night. I finally got a good bit of sleep."

Shisui's eyebrows rose in pleasant surprise, but before he could formulate a response, the bell rang. Class began, and the day proceeded as normal.

At lunch the three of us congregated with the part of the class that wasn't likely to fall prone to fangirlisms (namely Hana Inuzuka, and Izumi Uchiha, though the latter was borderline), or outright attack Itachi and I (namely Maruten Akimichi. Age prejudices are SO much fun to deal with).

After lunch, we went back to class, and the rest of the day passed as normal. I returned home to Kushina actually making something other than onigiri, signalling that Minato was at home.

"I'm back!" I called out, "Whatcha making?"

"It's a secret, and how was your day?" Kushina smiled at me.

"It was good, thanks! Sure smells good..." I sighed wistfully, and stood on my tiptoes to try and see what was in the pot, only to receive a conk on the head from Kushina, "No. Like I said, it's a secret."

I gave her a half-hearted pout, which quickly turned into a grin.

"Oh! I saw Mikoto again today, ttebane. She says she wants to meet you," Kushina said, "I hear you and Itachi have been getting along?"

I nodded, "Yep! He and Shisui are my best friends, now."

Kushina laughed, "You're funny. Anyway, she said you could come over after school tomorrow, if you'd like."

I nodded, "That'd be great, aa! You're going to see her again tomorrow?"

She smiled and replied, "Yep, ttebane!"

I grinned, "All righty, then! Hmm... How long on the food?"

"Another hour, maybe two. You hungry?" Kushina asked.

"Not really. Just curious. Hey... Is there a Memorial Stone for shinobi who've died in action?" I asked. I had to check exactly where I was in the storyline.

"Yes... Why...?" Kushina looked at me.

"Well... I wanted to pay my respects," I replied.

Kushina smiled, "Training ground 7. You're heading there, I'm presuming?"

I nodded, "I'll be back in about an hour."

She grinned, "Don't be late! Minato and I might have to eat without you, ttebane!"

I gasped, feigning shock and hurt, "You wouldn't, aa!"

"I would, ttebane! Now get going! See you in an hour," Kushina yelled out after me.

I grinned and headed to the flower shop. I still had a little bit of money left over from the allowance Kushina had given me.

I entered the flower shop. Behind the counter was a woman with brown hair and pupil-less brown eyes, her hair coiled into a bun on the top of her head. She looked up at me entering and a smile immediately appeared on her face, "How can I help you, Little one?"

I smiled at her, "I need a flower bouquet symbolizing honor, love, and peace."

She immediately blinked at me, then smiled, "Of course. May I ask the occasion?"

"I'm going to pay my regards to the Memorial Stone," I replied.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad to be of assistance. May I ask your name?" She inquired politely.

I smiled at her, "I'm Kanashimi Hitomi, aa! Nice to meet you,...?" I trailed off, not having her name.

"Yamanaka Midori. Nice to meet you too, Hitomi-chan. Here you are!" She smiled, handing me the bouquet.

I smiled back at her, "Thank you, Yamanaka-san! How much will they be?"

"Hmm... How about free?" She winked at me, "As long as you come back again, and bring your parents with you."

I laughed, "I'll be sure to, Yamanaka-san!"

"And stop calling me that. Midori is fine," She waved her hand dismissively.

I grinned, "Hai, Midori-san! Have a great day! See you later," and left the shop. I walked to Training Ground 7, and stopped to stare at the Memorial Stone. It was beautiful in real life. I made my way down a hill, following the path leading me to it. I stopped in front of the giant stone and laid the flowers at the base of it. I then sat cross-legged in front of the stone.

"Afternoon. I don't know anybody on this stone. I mean, maybe I've heard of you distantly, but I know that I'm a stranger to you guys. I'm pretty new to Konoha. My family's dead. If you guys see them, can you say hi for me? I'd really appreciate it. My name's Kanashimi-Uzumaki Hitomi. I wonder if I'll inherit the Will of Fire? Or do I already carry it? I hope I do. Konoha is such a great place. It's got its problems though, too. I wonder how many of you guys' family members visit you on a regular basis? Do you guys all have family members? I hope that we're making your sacrifices worth it..." I trailed off and sighed, looking up at the sky, then back at the stone, and began to read all the names on the side that I was on out loud. When I had gotten through everyone on the side I was at, I grinned and said, "Thank you for your sacrifices."

I felt a chakra signature approaching the bushes on my right. A few minutes later, it arrived in the bushes. It stopped abruptly, probably seeing me. I realized that it felt eerily familiar... Oh! It was Kakashi.

"Ne, Sparky-san! You can come out. I can feel you," I smiled at him, or in where I felt his chakra. He emerged from the bushes and stood for a minute, awkwardly. My smile grew, "You were one of the people at the Compound. Nice to meet you."

His head tilted ever so slightly to the side, and I went back to looking at the stone. I was at the side where Rin and Obito were both carved. I ran my had down the column with their names in it, allowing my hand to stop over a random name. I looked back up, and he had started walking over to where I was.

"Why are you here," He quietly asked.

"Well... Because everyone on here is a hero of the greatest kind," I replied, smiling up at him. 'Damn, do I feel small. Can't wait to hit a growth spurt.'

He replied with silence, and I followed his gaze to Rin and Obito's names.

"Rin... Are you looking at the name Obito or Mikka? I can't tell. Are they loved ones of yours?" I asked quietly, my head tilting to the side.

Kakashi scoffed, "Why should I tell a kid like you?"

I looked up at him, and shrugged, "I don't know. Sometimes telling strangers feels better than telling friends."

He looked at me critically, and I met his visible eye. His shoulders slumped a tiny bit, and he took a seat next to me.

I stared at the Monument for a bit. If Kakashi was going to say anything, he'd say it. If not, he wouldn't.

"Obito- Uchiha. Nohara Rin... They were... my genin teammates," Kakashi said. His voice felt cold and brittle, like iron.

I kept staring at the stone, keeping my expression open. He continued, "Obito died first... If I had only been more willing to trust my comrades, more willing to work with them, he wouldn't be dead."

I stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. He did. "Rin... I... I killed her. I should have kept my promise to Obito... but I didn't. I killed her... Both of them are dead because of me."

I asked softly, "Is that really how it happened, though?" He jerked, evidently not expecting what I had just said. I met his eye, "Is it?"

He frowned, "Yes."

"Are you positive?"

"Y-yes."

"Absolutely?"

"Y... Yes?"

I let my head fall to one side, still keeping eye-contact, "You don't sound sure. Are you sure you're not just trying to convince yourself that it's your fault? Are you sure that you're not trying to take all the blame because not taking the blame would mean something else? Are you afraid of that something else?"

Kakashi stilled, staring at me, his eyes saying he wasn't completely there. I gave him a minute to think about it, and then switched topics, turning my head to look directly at Obito's name.

"Are you sure that it was your fault that Obito-san died? Are you sure about that? Because if you're not, then that means that he died from uncontrollable circumstances. And there wouldn't be anyone to blame. But that would leave you kind of... lost. You'd have to ask why? Over and over again, driving you insane. But you need your sanity, so you blame yourself, causing endless misery. Either way, you're hampered... Unless you get out of the cycle of asking why. Unless you start accepting the fact that he died, not because of you, but for you. And if you really need the answer to the question why, then it was probably because he cares about you. I don't know him, and I don't know Rin. But it doesn't sound like you can take the blame for their deaths. Because they decided to die for you, and for Konoha. Because that's the story of a hero, and only heroes are written on here. They give their lives for those they love, and for their dreams."

Kakashi was silent, turning his head back to the Stone. I continued to look at Obito and Rin's names. After a few more minutes, I realized that if I didn't leave, I'd be late.

I stood and smiled, "Well, I've got to go! Rin-san, Obito-san, it was nice meeting you. Sparky-san here is pretty cool. I think he's doing his best to make you guys proud. Thank you both for your sacrifices! Hope to talk to you again, soon."

I turned around to walk home when Kakashi spoke up, "Hatake Kakashi."

I smiled, not that he could see it, and said over my shoulder, "Kanashimi Hitomi. Nice to meet you, Sparky," And headed home.

* * *

I entered and shouted, "I'm back!"

"Right on time! Food's ready, ttebane!" Kushina projected exuberantly.

I smiled, taking off my shoes, and walked into the living room. Jiraiya was sitting on the couch, watching Kushina in the kitchen. I smiled at him, "Hello, Jiraiya-san! How are you?"

He looked at me, "Doing pretty good, kid. How bout you? Minato says you want to take sealing lessons from me?"

I nodded, smiling, "Yes, sir. It'd be much appreciated."

He sat back for a second, "Hmm... All right kid. We'll give this a shot. Meet me after school on the second and third days of the week. We'll work on it then. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir! Thank you very much," I grinned.

"Get into your seats, please. Food's on the table!" Kushina smiled.

I got into my seat, and realized that I could barely see over the edge of the table. I deadpanned, got up, and gathered two pillows from the couch, putting them on the seat. I climbed up again, and could actually see. Jiraiya was giving me a weird look so I asked, "What?"

He shook his head, chuckling, "Nothing, nothing."

I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. Kushina served the food, and we dove in. It was Uzumaki style ramen, no skimping on spices. It was almost the best ramen ever. Not as good as my mom's though. I grinned at Kushina and thanked her for the food.

"So... How are Itachi and Shisui Uchiha at school, Hitomi?" Minato asked.

I grinned at him, "They're funny. Oh! Yesterday they drew unicorns on my face at lunch when I fell asleep after eating."

"You getting enough sleep?" Minato asked.

I shrugged, "Eh, so-so. It's been getting better, though, aa!"

Minato nodded, "That's good. How are classes?"

"Pretty easy," I replied.

"Are you bored?" Minato asked.

"Yes," I shrugged.

"How bored?" Minato asked, amusement sparking in his eyes.

"Weeeeeeeell... I may or may not be working on seals instead of listening, and may or may not be paying absolutely no attention to the teacher most days...?" I replied, a sheepish smile on my face.

Minato chuckled and smiled, "Kushina told me about your grades."

I shot a betrayed look at her, and then focused back on Minato, "Ok. Do I have to raise them? Or can I stay like I am?"

Minato was still very amused, "Well, tell me your reasons for not being at the top of the class, and I'll decide."

I told him all of my reasons. He listened, and after I was done, he said, "All right. Those are very good reasons. Where'd you get the idea that you'd be pressured, though?"

I deadpanned, "Itachi. And my clan."

Minato tilted his head slightly at me, "All right. You can stay like you are. But I will be doing monthly assessments to check on your progress with everything."

I nodded, glad not to have to do anything.

"Sorry to bring this up over dinner, Jiraiya," Minato apologized sheepishly.

"Nah, don't worry about it, Minato. I need to know what kind of person my student is, anyway. So, Hitomi. What do you think of the state of the Village?"

'Ooh... wow. He's going in strong there.' I thought, and then replied, "Well... On the surface, it's thriving."

"And below?" Jiraiya asked.

I pursed my lips, "Well... I've noticed Itachi and Shisui's dads are avoided on the off occasion that they come to pick them up. And I've heard people whispering about the Uchihas on the streets every once in a while. I don't like it. It's like everyone's waiting for the Uchiha to reach out and bite them."

Jiraiya sat back, intruiged, "And what would you do to fix that?"

I frowned, "Hm... I... I don't know. They're already part of the Police Force, and... Maybe if... Maybe if a new organization was created... Or... Maybe... I don't know. Talk to me later, after I've thought about it."

Jiraiya smirked, amused.

I shrugged, "Anyway... Minato... Is Konoha in the middle of war?"

Minato slumped a little, "Yes... But we're wrapping it up. Shouldn't be too much longer before we gain the final victory..."

I nodded, looking at my bowl of ramen, and and thought, "At what cost...?"

Jiraiya tilted his head at me, "What was that, kiddo?"

I looked up, confused, "Huh? Oh... Did I say that out loud? Whoops. It's nothing. Is that where you've been, Minato-san?"

Minato nodded, "And I'll be heading back before too long. You two can live without me for a little while, right?"

Kushina replied, "We've had it covered this far. And with Hitomi, the house is never dull."

I managed a half-flourished bow in my seat, "I try, I try."

Jiraiya chuckled and Minato smiled. Kushina and I exchanged winks.

The rest of dinner passed through a haze of small talk, and afterwards, I went to bed. The next day passed without incident, school being the boring thing that it was. Afterwards, I went home to Kushina, and the two of us walked to the Uchiha Compound.

I looked up at the white walls and the black gate, two guards on either side.

"Wow. This place is massive," I observed.

Kushina nodded, "It is pretty big, isn't it?"

We walked through the gates, the guards nodding at Kushina. Once we were in, Kushina took me to Itachi's house. Kushina didn't bother knocking. Instead, she walked in, proclaiming, "Hey, Mikoto! I brought Tomi!"

Kushina and I both took off our shoes, and Kushina led me into the main living area. Mikoto came out of the kitchen, "Hello, Kushina! This is Hitomi-chan?"

I smiled and nodded, "Good afternoon, Mikoto-san. It's nice to meet you."

Mikoto smiled at me, "It's nice to meet you, too, Hitomi-chan. May I call you Tomi?"

"I'd appreciate that," I grinned at her exuberantly.

She chuckled, "Well, good. Tomi, thank you for being my son's friend."

I shook my head, "I'm lucky to have him as a friend. He's quiet, but really nice. I think he's funny. He and Shisui drew unicorns on my face the other day during lunch when I dropped off into sleep."

Mikoto laughed, "I heard about that. Itachi usually tells me little snippets here and there of his days. I can never get the full picture."

"Well, there's not really much to talk about. There are classes, and they're boring. And then there's lunch, and usually Itachi, Shisui, Hana, Maruten, Izumi and I are all running around trying to keep Itachi's fangirls from smothering him. They're quite the problem," I narrowed my eyes at the air, then changed my expression to a smile, "Anyway! After lunch, it's more boringness, and after that, we go home. So there really isn't all that much to talk about."

"Hmm, well tell me about Itachi's fangirls. He never mentions them," Mikoto was highly amused.

I began regaling her with the stories of the fangirls at lunch that I had accumulated so far. The two women seemed to enjoy them immensely, and time passed pleasantly until Itachi came back, with Shisui.

Shisui stopped when he saw me, "Tomi! Hey! You're here!"

"Yep! I am! How was training?" I asked.

"It was good. 'Tachi here is super good with kunai and shuriken. I don't get how you don't ever miss," Shisui complained.

I laughed as Itachi replied fondly, "Well, maybe if you practiced more with them you wouldn't, either."

"I know, I know... But it's just so hard to focus on them sometimes!" He exclaimed, frowning.

"Shuriken and Kunai are pretty annoying sometimes," I grinned.

"Indeed!" Shisui exclaimed, "Oh! Tomi! Wanna head out to the back and play tag or something?"

"Kushina, is that ok?" I turned to her.

She smiled at me, "It's just fine with me, ttebane!"

I grinned, "Ok! I'm coming!"

The three of us ran outside and promptly engaged into a game of tag.


	8. Chapter 8: Talk

A/N: Hey, guys! Been a while aheh heh... heh... My computer broke. I had a wedding to go to. Life craziness in general kept me from writing. But, I'M BACK! And happy to be back. Hopefully this extra long chapter will make up for part of my absence. I might need to do 16,000 words for a chapter to truly make up for my stupidity of breaking my computer, though. Would y'all like that? Question for you guys: Should I do other perspectives? As in, right now, it's told from first person, Hitomi. Should I switch and go to Minato, or Kushina, or maybe Shisui or Itachi once in a while? It's something I'm not too familiar with, so it'd probably start off pretty bad. But anyway, I'll need a second perspective for the upcoming arc, and I don't know if I should go ahead and do a couple different ones now, just to introduce them, or if I should wait. \\(?^?)/ Well, you guys are probably bored out of your skulls by me rambling, so here's a chapter. I hope you enjoy! :)

* * *

"Would you teach me the Shadow Clone?"

We were back at Minato and Kushina's place. The game of tag had ended with Itachi as 'It.' That had been when Kushina had called me back and told me we needed to head home. So, I said my goodbyes and went home. The next day, Minato dropped by the house, and I thought I should ask him about possibly learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was kinda essential for what I wanted to do.

Minato looked down at me and replied, "Hm... I think you have enough chakra to pull it off. But, there'll be limits on using it for you. Your chakra reserves are still developing, so you should be careful when using it, as it may cause you harm. One shadow clone at a time, I think. At least, until your reserves grow a bit more."

I nodded, "Ok!"

Minato smiled at me, "Let's head to a training ground to do this."

I smiled back at him, "Sounds good. Thank you, Minato."

He shook his head, "No problem."

We went over to an empty training ground where Minato began walking me through the technique.

"All right. Hitomi, think about your chakra," Minato said.

I closed my eyes and thought about the swirling blue mass flowing through my system, "Ok?"

"Now, imagine it splitting into two parts. Each part is half yin and half yang chakra," Minato then instructed.

I obeyed and felt my chakra split inside my body. (Which was a really weird and kind of disturbing feeling.)

Minato nodded, "Now that you've got it split, focus it here," He touched my forehead, "At your heart, and at your stomach."

I focused the split chakra at those locations.

"Now, form the Tiger seal," Minato then instructed.

I felt my chakra split away from me at those points, and I was left with half of it. I opened my eyes and looked to my right to see a slightly deformed Shadow Clone staring back at me.

"Whoa. That felt weird," I said.

Minato smiled, "Yes, it usually does. Try dispersing it."

"Uh..." I thought for a second on how to disperse it, 'Stupid Manga. Wish it gave us more details on how to disperse these things...' I then said, "Uh, can you disperse?"

The clone nodded and poofed back into me. The rushing sensation that I felt was totally bizarre, and I wobbled on my feet as my vision swam for a second before I regained my balance.

"Careful. You've got how to perform it down, you just need to practice and add a little more Yang chakra to the mix, as your clone was deformed."

I nodded, "Thank you, Minato."

He smiled at me, "Glad you want to learn, Hitomi."

I smiled back before frowning, "Do you have time to walk me through it again? I'm having trouble remembering exactly where to focus the chakra, now. And you said I needed more... Yang? Chakra?"

Minato nodded, "Yes, and yes. Forehead, heart, and stomach are the three places you should focus it. And yes, what you need is more Yang chakra."

I closed my eyes and we went through it again. Minato had to leave again after that, but I practiced for another couple hours before heading home.

The day after that, I was back in school. And I was bored. What do I do when I'm bored? I seal. Or I prank. And that day seemed like a wonderful day to prank on. So, I grabbed some chalk, some glitter, a long piece of string, and a pack of markers. And some stray feathers. And I took them to class. They were well hidden in my bag, each thing in its respective container so it didn't leave any incriminating evidence behind, in the case that someone searched my bag after I had done the prank.

I sat next to Itachi and Shisui.

"Your bag looks bulkier than usual today. What's in it?" Shisui asked curiously.

I grinned mischievously at him, "Well, you'll just have to find that out yourself now, won't you?"

Shisui narrowed his eyes, but I could see a smile threatening to crawl up his face, "Pranks?"

"Pranks." I replied, grinning madly.

I heard Itachi's face hit the desk. He turned to look at us, and said with his expression, 'You two are insane.'

Shisui and I replied in sync, "Yep!"

Class started and I began setting up my prank. Good thing about being in the back row? Teachers have a very hard time seeing you.

I waited until the class was half asleep during a lecture to begin snaking my string with a feather and a marker tied on the end up the wall behind me onto a rafter using chakra. I ran it along the rafter, out of the teacher's line of sight, and over to the sleeping kid nearest to me. I lowered the marker end down to the kid's face, and began drawing squiggles on it. Then, I switched to the feather part, and gently rubbed right under his nose until he began to sneeze, at which point I retracted it quickly back up to the rafter. He didn't sneeze, so that was a disappointment, but I did get to color on his face. I moved to my next victim and did the same, but didn't tickle under her nose. It was one of Itachi's fangirls, so I colored on her face until it was almost completely black. (These were washable markers, by the way. I made sure they weren't permanent. I'm mean, but not that mean.) After her, I went through the class and colored on anyone who was asleep, as long as the teacher wasn't looking. The second the teacher was about to turn around to face the class, my string went back up to the ceiling.

After I had colored on everyone who was asleep, I took my feather and covered it in pink chalk dust on one side, and blue on the other, then in glitter on both. I snuck it back up to each kid and colored the back of the sleeping girls' hair blue, and the boys' pink. I left the front their natural color so the teacher wouldn't get suspicious. When the last of the chalk dust had been used up, I brought the string back to me, added more glitter and white chalk dust, then sent it back to go tickle one kid's nose. He got glitter and white chalk dust all over his nose before he sneezed, waking himself and all the other sleeping children up. The teacher turned around just as I managed to get the string back up to the rafter.

I liked Daikoku Funeno. He was one of our two teachers. A good guy. A little on the lenient side, but he had a good attitude about life and a cheery personality. Kinda reminds me of a young version of the Santa Claus. He was always one to laugh at a prank, then, after he found out who did it, tell them to listen in class instead of pulling pranks.

That's what he did here. When he saw the kids who had been asleep's faces, he burst out laughing. They were all rubbing their eyes, trying to wake themselves up. Their surprise was hilarious when their hands came away black.

"WHAT?!" One kid burst out. I think his name was... Saisu? Yeah, that was it. He was pretty annoying. A bit like Naruto back in the glory days, but more obnoxious and less kind. I had colored his face pretty thoroughly.

Daikoku was shaking with laughter, but he reigned it in enough to tell them to, "Go get yourselves cleaned up. And take this as a lesson not to fall asleep in class."

They grumbled and filed out of the classroom. But, now that all attention was drawn to the backs of their heads, the class burst out laughing.

Saisu whirled around, angrily demanding, "What?!"

One kid wheezed, "The back of your head..."

Saisu turned scarlet and ran out the door to the nearest restroom. My sides were throbbing from how much I was laughing. Itachi stuck his head in his hands and was shaking his head, while Shisui was hooting out his laughter.

Daikoku looked around the classroom, "All right. I don't know which one of you decided to do that, but you shouldn't do anything like that again. Pay attention, don't prank."

The class calmed down with Daikoku's words, and the lecture went on.

* * *

I walked outside to sit with Itachi and Shisui while they trained during lunch. I pulled out my seals, and continued from where I had left off during class on the first attempt of the new third layer. If I were to succinctly describe seals, it would be time-consuming, fun, and hard. I began drawing when I saw a shadow over me. I looked up to see the girl whose face I had colored completely black earlier, along with two of her more vexatious companions.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked.

The girl pursed her lips and frowned, "Yeah. You were the one who pranked me earlier. You're always near Itachi-kun. He's MINE, so you should stay away from him."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, A. You didn't give me something I could actually help you with, B. You don't know that it was me who pranked you, or if I pranked anyone for that matter, and C. Itachi does not BELONG to anyone, nor is he interested. He's my friend, and I have no interest in him whatsoever. Can you leave me alone, now? I mean, you're being a rotund, australopithicine, irascible mammoth, and you aren't giving me anything I can help you with, so I'd appreciate it if you would allow me to return to my seals."

The three blinked in confusion before the girl I had just insulted the life out of bristled. Then, one of her friends, a sensible fangirl (I never knew such a thing could ever occur before this incident), told her friend to back down.

"Mon, stop. I don't know what she said, and I don't think it was very nice, but you heard her. She doesn't have any interest in Itachi-kun. Let's leave her alone," the girl said. She had white blonde hair and green eyes, but I didn't know her name at the time.

Mon's eyes flashed in anger, "Sayuri, you don't get to tell me what to do!" She turned back to me, "You! You're a jerk, and don't deserve to be around Itachi-kun! Fight me!"

I sighed heavily, thinking, 'Seriously? Seriously. Are you shitting me? I have been challenged to fight a six-year-old, who's not Itachi, and not Shisui? Are you kidding me?' I then shook my head and replied to her, "Nope. I don't want to fight. You're the one who's being contumacious and imbecilic here. I told you, I'm not interested in Itachi. He's my friend, brother, thing. Or, whatever he classifies as. Probably brother, or something. I don't know. But he doesn't BELONG to you, or, rather, you don't OWN him. Yes, that's a more suitable approach. And I'm not going to fight you. I need to work on my sealing, not go to fisticuffs over something as moronic as 'love.' Especially at my age."

The girl's face was cerise, and I knew she was going to explode soon enough. So, I figured I'd give her an extra shove, "And just so you know, Itachi will never accept your affections. He is quite dandy on his lonesome."

And, she exploded, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE'S FINE BY HIMSELF?! HE'S YOUR BROTHER?! WHAT RIGHT DOES THAT GIVE YOU TO TELL ME ABOUT LOVE?! WHO SAID HE BELONGS TO ME?!"

I grinned, singing in my head, 'Got her~!' Before saying out loud, "You did. You said, 'Itachi's mine!' Which is totally wrong because he doesn't belong to anybody, never has, and never will. He does what he does, and you can't have him."

Her face still red in anger, Mon huffed, "That's not what I MEANT! I meant, as in romantic love!"

I scoffed, "Sorry sweetie, but he's too in love with Konoha for that to happen."

She reached out to slap me but I dodged quickly and began packing up my sealing equipment, "Well, if you're going to act like that, I will simply traipse over to a more peaceful corner. I apologize for not being of more assistance. Have a lovely day!"

She aimed a kick at my back, which I partially dodged, but she hit my hand with my bag of sealing stuff in it just right to where my hand was forced to let go. I lunged after it, diving under it to keep the seals inside it safe. I rolled over and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You really love those weird symbol things, don't you? Why don't you just let me destroy them, then," Mon snarled as she plopped down on top of me.

"Oof," the air came whooshing out of my lungs at her unexpected weight. I tried to roll over, but then I realized that if I did that, then my seals would be in danger. I groaned in annoyance.

"Hmph. I thought so. You're weak," Mon declared, "And you're ugly, with all those freckles and moles all over your face. And your hair! It's red. What a disgusting color!"

I sighed, "May I remind you that the Sharingan is red? And so is your dress."

"Yeah- well, those are the only two shades of red that are cool. Your hair is the ugliest red ever!" Mon amended.

I raised an eyebrow, "Ok, whatever you say. Hey, when are you going to get off me? It's a little hard to breathe."

Fury rose to her face, and she bounced on top of me. More air got forced out of my lungs.

"How did you like that, huh?! Why don't you try to get up, instead of just waiting for Itachi-kun to come save you," Mon sneered.

I raised my eyebrow again, "Uh, who said I was doing that. Honestly, besides your weight, I'm just enjoying laying down."

I heard a small giggle from Sayuri, at which Mon snapped, "SHUT UP!"

I flipped myself up, sending Mon flying while she was distracted. Mon landed a few feet away, got back up, and ran at me, preparing to throw the sloppiest punch in history. (Ok, I exaggerate, but still.) I dodged, grabbed her outstretched arm, and held it tightly in an uncomfortable grip behind her back.

"I'm not weak. I just choose not to pick fights. Unlike someone I am acquainted with," I said, rolling my eyes. I released her arm. She stumbled forward, and I turned to go walk over to where Shisui was guffawing.

I bonked him on the head before sitting next to him, "People are so tiresome, sometimes."

He winked at me, "Careful, or you'll sound like a Nara."

I laughed at that, "Same goes for you, Shisui."

"True, true," Shisui acknowledged.

* * *

"I'm home!" I called out while I walked through the door. Nobody answered, so I took off my shoes and went into the kitchen. There was a note on the counter that said,

'Had to go on mission. Minato will be back tomorrow night to check on you. If you get lonely, head to Mikoto's. She said you could sleep over there, if you want. Don't forget to go to your therapy and to pack good lunches. Leave me a schedule of where you're going and when so I can look it over when I get back. Love you, Tomi! Be safe!

~Kushina'

I rolled my eyes and smiled. In my past life, my mother had died when I was 13 of a, you guessed it, hereditary heart disease. I passed away from the same thing. My little brother didn't have it, though, which was a very good thing. My father and I were both immensely relieved when his test showed up negative for it. That was a bittersweet day. On one hand, my brother would live a long, full life, as long as he didn't do anything stupid. On the other hand, it was also the day I got my test results back saying I was positive, meaning my lifespan was limited to a few short more years. I was sixteen when I received that news. The following years went by too quickly. I didn't even get to finish my degree. And the doctor had said that I should have been fine through college. Oh, well. Hey, at least I got a second chance! In an alternate universe where eyes and giant foxes are the most awesome things in existence.

I walked over to the fridge, opened it, and grinned at the container of Ichiraku ramen staring back at me, "Score."

It had a note taped on it from Kushina telling me to eat healthy meals each night and not do what she normally would and just eat instant ramen. I laughed at that, took off the note, stuck it to the fridge door, and ate the ramen.

I walked back into the living room and began working on the five minutes of homework I had left. I finished the assignment, then took my seals to my room and worked on them for an hour before I got up, wrote that I was going to an empty Training Ground to work on Shadow Clones, and headed out. I found an empty space at Training Ground 5, and began my work. I worked on Shadow Clones until about 5 o'clock, and then headed home.

I was exhausted by then. Shadow Clones were taxing, and it was challenging to find the correct balance of Yin and Yang. I had gotten too much Yang chakra which had resulted in the clone having an extra limb once, and when I dispersed it (I finally figured out how to do that without words, but it's really hard to describe), it left me with a really strange bubbly sensation inside that probably wasn't good.

So yeah, Shadow Clones are B-ranked for a reason. And Naruto is a late-blooming genius. I figured I had about a week before I figured out the technique. I shook my head. 'So much to do. I'll probably also have to figure out a way to reverse-summon my shadow clone because knowing how chakra sensitive I am, I won't be able to get within 100 yards of Kurama without being in serious pain unless I found a seal to ward... his... chakra... off... Oh, gosh, I am a GENIUS! That's awesome!' I thought excitedly, but then I realized, 'But how on earth would that work? His chakra is described as eroding, and I think that if there were a way to cancel his chakra, other than sealing it, it would have already been used by now. Well, I'll just have to find that out for myself.' I sighed.

Chills ran down my spine. Someone was watching me, and their chakra felt... like snakes. 'Wait... Oh, crap, Orochimaru is still in the village at this time, isn't he?! Yeah, I think so... Ahahaha, I need to hurry up and get home, NOW.'

I sped up my pace, but the snake-like chakra that I was labeling as Orochimaru kept on following me. I finally managed to get home, and when I closed the door behind me and had locked all the windows, I felt much better. Not that that would really protect me from the creepy snake-pedo, but hey, it made me feel better.

I felt the chakra linger for a bit before moving off. I breathed a sigh of relief. I did NOT want to run into Orochimaru again any time soon. Or Danzo. Or Kabuto. He'd be a few years younger than me at this point... Maybe I could stop him from becoming Orochimaru's henchman? Nah. Better to deal with the devil you know that the one you don't.

I shook my head and went to go get ready for bed. I climbed into bed, but I my mind was still stuck on exactly how I could learn to reverse-summon a shadow clone. I needed to look at a summoning scroll. Ha, like that's going to happen. Well, I guess I'll just have to wing it, then. So much to do.

I drifted off into sleep.

* * *

The house was really empty without Minato or Kushina, and my mind was beginning to go places I didn't like, so I began walking with Itachi and Shisui on their way home the next day after school.

"What are you doing? Are you coming with us, or something?" Shisui asked, curious.

I nodded, "Yeah. Kushina and Minato are both on missions and I'm having a little trouble by myself. 'Tachi's mom said I could spend the night at her house if that happened, and, since it is, I'm gonna take her up on that invitation."

The corners of Itachi's mouth twitched up, so I knew he was smiling.

"Cool! I'll ask my mom and your mom if I can come over too, that way we can all hang out," Shisui grinned.

The tiny expression on Itachi's face widened into an actual smile, though still very small.

I elbowed him, "I don't know what's up with you, 'Tachi, but you're more emotionally constipated than usual. Good thing we've got ALL night to talk 'bout it."

Itachi gave me his equivalent to rolling his eyes, which was more like a slight glance sideways.

I shook my head, "It's not nothing. If you're upset, why not tell us? I mean, we're friends, so we want to help you! Right, Shisui?"

Shisui nodded, "Yeah! You can tell us, 'Tachi."

The small smile came back to Itachi's face as he replied, "All right."

Shisui and I exchanged triumphant glances, and we continued to Itachi's house.

Itachi said in a normal tone of voice as he took off his shoes, "Tadaima."

"Okaeri! Ah, I see you brought Hitomi over. Would you like to spend the night?" Mikoto asked.

I nodded, "Yes, ma'am. That'd be much appreciated."

Mikoto smiled and then turned to Shisui, "And I'm assuming you, too?"

Shisui nodded, "Yep. I'm gonna have to run home to ask my mom in a minute, though. Your house was closer."

Mikoto chuckled, "All right. If your mom says yes, you may."

"Yes! Thanks, Mikoto! I'll be back soon, guys!" Shisui cheered and ran off.

I smiled, "I also have to run home. Minato is supposed to drop by the house tonight to check up on me, so I'm going to leave him a note that I'm here."

Mikoto nodded, "Good idea. See you in a minute then, Hitomi."

I grinned and ran outside. I jumped up onto a wall and ran along the wall back to Kushina and Minato's house. When I got there, I entered, took off my shoes, walked over to the drawer with paper in it and composed a note telling Minato where I was. Then, I went and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as hairbrush and change of clothes for the next day.

After that, I put my shoes back on and left the house to go back to Mikoto's.

I got there and took my shoes off when I heard Shisui yelling a battle cry and an 'Oof' following it. My curiosity aroused, I poked my head around the corner to see Shisui on top of Itachi, a pillow in between them as the two wrestled. I smirked mischievously and ran out from behind the wall, belly flopping on top of both of them.

Two 'Oofs' came from under me, and I began laughing as I rolled off of them and to my feet, only to receive a Shisui barrelling at me. I sidestepped him, allowing him to crash into the couch. Then, Itachi and I faced off. He swung a pillow at me, I dodged it and jumped up so that I was hanging upside down on the ceiling.

"Ne, Itachi. Can you wall-walk yet?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I'm learning."

I grinned, "Good," And dropped down on top of him. Shisui got up and came charging at us, so I rolled off Itachi and spared myself as Shisui flopped on top of him.

"No fair," Shisui stuck his tongue out at me. I replied by sticking my tongue out at him.

Fugaku walked into the room. I turned around and smiled at him, "Good afternoon, Fugaku-san!"

Fugaku took one look at the room, turned around, and walked right back out.

"Wow. He's more emotionally constipated than you are, 'Tachi," I observed.

Shisui burst out laughing. I couldn't see Itachi's face, but I'm sure it was probably a shade of pink or red. I shrugged, turned back around and dog-piled on top of Itachi and Shisui, again. We rolled around and wrestled for a couple more minutes, and that was when I felt Minato's chakra arrive at the door. I perked up.

"Minato's here!" I grinned and ran to the door. Sure enough, he was standing outside. His face took on an oddly amused look when he got a better view of me. And then I realized that my hair was probably sticking up and out in a million places, and frizzed beyond all belief, as it has a tendency to do when I roughhouse. I laughed, "Hehehe, How're you?"

Minato smiled, "I'm well. Are you doing all right on your own?"

I waved my hand in a so-so manner, "Eh, sorta. The first day, I was fine, but I started getting lonely this morning, and I realized I didn't wanna sleep in an empty house tonight, so I took Mikoto's offer to come sleep over here for the night. And then Shisui decided that he was gonna come, too, and now all three of us are roughhousing and having fun."

Minato smiled, and that was when I heard Mikoto's voice behind me, "Minato, you can come on in. Hitomi, you can go back to playing with the boys."

I nodded and smiled, "Ok!" As I ran away, I heard Mikoto ask Minato how Kushina was doing. I didn't hear his reply, as a pillow hit me in the head.

"HAHA! Gotcha!" Shisui crowed.

I scrunched up my face, "Well, technically, it was Itachi that threw it, so it was him that got me. Nice throw. Hehehe," I began laughing evilly, and Shisui paled. I then picked up the pillow Itachi had just thrown at me, and threw it in at the top of the couch. It bounced off the couch, onto the ceiling, then onto Itachi's head, back to the ceiling, then off of Shisui's head.

"Score!" I performed a weird little dance. Shisui laughed and Itachi smiled.

"That was a satisfactory throw. Could you teach me how to do it?" Itachi asked.

I deadpanned, "Wow, you're worse off than I thought. SHISUI! TIME TO BREAK OUT THE HEAVY ARTILLERY!"

Shisui nodded seriously while saluting, "YES, MA'AM!"

And we both launched ourselves at Itachi and began tickling him until we got him to laugh. It was a quiet laugh, but it was definitely worth it, as he was definitely having fun.

We finally stopped, letting Itachi laugh the last of it off and stretch his face back to a usable level.

"Ok. Itachi. Shisui. Neither of you are allowed to EVER become more emotionally constipated than you are now. Shisui, you're not too bad, but Itachi? Any more and you'll go off the deep end!" I cautioned seriously.

Itachi smirked while Shisui was smiling broadly.

"Good. It looks like we got your face muscles working again. They're not frozen over, now," I nodded.

Fugaku came back into the room, "Children. Keep the noise down."

Itachi immediately nodded. I elbowed him, at which he gave me a look clearly saying, 'What?'

I replied, "Words. Use. Words."

He gave us his equivalent to an eye roll but nevertheless replied, "Yes, sir."

Fugaku was studying me. I met him in the eyes and smiled at him, "We'll do our best."

Shisui looked at me and nodded, "What she said."

Fugaku nodded, evidently satisfied, and left. I did notice his chakra lingering at the door, though. He was evidently listening into our conversations. Well. If he doesn't like what he hears, he'll just have to deal with it.

"Hey, guys. Let's build a pillow fort!" I said in a lowered tone of voice.

Shisui and Itachi both looked at me like I was crazy, and Shisui asked, "What's that?"

I gaped at them, "You've never built a pillow fort?! Oh, it's so much fun! Ok. So, what we do is we get all the pillows we can find..."

I instructed them on how to build a pillow fort. And, though we tried to be quieter, we had moments where we got loud. We were just little kids, after all. (Or at least, Shisui and Itachi were. Me? I didn't really have an excuse.)

We finished the pillow fort, and then did our homework inside it. After that, we had supper, and then we played some more. I felt Minato come into the room so I catapulted myself out of the pillow fort, rolled, and landed neatly at his feet.

I looked up at him, "You leaving?"

He smiled and nodded, "Yes. Don't cause too much trouble."

I faked shock, "Who, me? Cause trouble? Naaaaah."

Minato chuckled and patted my head, "I'll see you later."

"Tell Kushina I say hi?" I asked.

Minato nodded, "You bet."

I got up and hugged him (Or, should I say his leg. Stupid height issues), "Stay safe."

He patted my head again and I let go. He left the building, and I catapulted myself back into the pillow fort. Shisui and Itachi just happened to be in the way. After about another hour, we all went to sleep, curled up inside the fort. The thing was massive. We used every single pillow we could get our hands on. The ones from Itachi's room, pillows from one or two of the hall closets, all of the pillows in the living room, and even a few we had smuggled out of the guest bedroom. Plus a few blankets to form the roof. The amount of pillows combined with our diminutive sizes, (No matter how much Shisui claimed to be the tallest, he was still just a tiny little kid), made the fort seem much bigger to us than to anyone else.

The next morning, the three of us ate breakfast together, got ready, and headed to school.

School was normal that day. I decided that it was too soon to do another prank, so I worked on seals all day. After school, Shisui split off from our group saying his mom would probably want him home that night but that he would come if she would let him. She didn't, though, so it was just Itachi and I.

Itachi and I worked on our homework in companiable silence. I finished before him and leaned back in my chair, waiting for him to finish. When he did, he started to get up to go do something when I asked him a question.

"Have you been reading the History books?"

He stopped and looked at me. He nodded.

"I don't like where Konoha's going," I said, thinking of the future that was sure to come if I didn't act.

Itachi froze for a second. Then, a sad expression flitted across his face as he said almost inaudibly, "Neither do I."

He motioned for me to follow him. I did. We walked over to his room. He closed the door behind us, and we both sat in the middle of the floor.

"Shisui hasn't really gotten into the books yet. Give him another year, though, and he will," I said quietly.

Itachi looked at me and nodded.

"I want to change where Konoha's going," I said both quietly and wistfully, "And I want to prevent a lot of things from happening."

Itachi looked at me, and I met his eyes. I wasn't alone. Warmth bloomed inside of me, and a small smile spread across my face. I dropped it after a minute, though.

"Ne, 'Tachi... Do you want to join ANBU when you become a chunin?" I asked quietly.

He hesitated for a moment before replying, "No... but I fear Father might make me."

I set my jaw, "You should try to stick up for yourself. He's steamrolling you into doing everything he wants you to. Sure, you're his son, but you're also your own person."

A semblance of a quiet laugh made its way past Itachi, "It just seems impossible to refuse him. He seems so..."

"Big?" I asked.

Itachi nodded. I smiled at him, "Well, so does every life choice. Every important choice that we make seems impossible at first glance. However, I think that the more impossible a decision seems, sometimes that means that it's the right choice to make."

The corners of Itachi's mouth twitched into a small smile, "Father also wants me to graduate this year..."

I scoffed, "You're a genius, Itachi. But you, Shisui and I are still only kids. He wants to take away the years you will have in relative peace. Well, he may not want that, but that's what he will be doing. If you don't want to graduate this year, tell him that, flunk a couple of your tests. Get yourself purposely held back. It's what I'm doing. I'm keeping my score perfect middle of the class. Itachi, you've already gotten an offer to transfer into the next class up, right?"

Itachi nodded, so I continued, "And your dad has already accepted it?"

Again, Itachi nodded. I shook my head, "I'll stay in class with you. And convince Shisui to come up a grade with us. But after this one, try lowering your grades to where you can stay in the class, and won't be dropped out, but won't be the head of the class. Your dad will get mad about it, but you'll just have to shut him out and focus on what you want for once. Plus, more years in the Academy gives you more time to bond. The people in the Academy will be our comrades one day, which is why I want to establish good connections."

Itachi thought about that for a moment. I took that time to sweep for Fugaku. He and Mikoto were both in the farthest corner of the house from us.

Itachi nodded, so I focused back on him.

"I... I think you're right," Itachi said quietly, "I want to graduate early, but I also want to stay with you and Shisui."

I nodded, "That's admirable. Hey, if your dad ever gets too overwhelming, my place is wide open. I know Kushina and Minato wouldn't mind me having you over."

Itachi smiled. It was small, tiny, almost nonexistent, but still a smile. I smiled back.

"Also, you don't have to supress your emotions. The strongest Shinobi, I think, are the people who don't keep who they are hidden behind a curtain."

The smile grew on Itachi's face. He then said, "Thank you, Tomi. I would like to ask you a favor."

I nodded, "Go ahead."

"If I ever make a bad decision, can you tell me? Can you chew me out and bring me back to fix my mistake?" Itachi asked seriously.

Determination was an emotion I was familiar with. But I had never felt this much of it within me at one time as I answered his question, "Yes. I promise I will do that. I will hit you over the head with an encyclopedia, if need be, or incapacitate your legs if it goes that far."

Itachi chuckled, and I thought I saw his eyes misting but he suddenly hugged me. I sat in shock. Itachi had never initiated physical contact of any kind before. I recovered myself and hugged him back. He let go, and sat back.

"Also, Tomi," Itachi said in a slightly scolding tone of voice, "You speak as if you're not a genius. I can tell you for certain that you are."

I felt heat crawl to my cheeks. Embarrassment was not something I was particularly familiar with. I hadn't been someone who received a lot of compliments in my past life, so getting one from one of my favorite characters in this life was... pretty amazing. And really embarrassing and awkward.

"Uh... um... thanks, 'Tachi," I mumbled.

Itachi was actually smiling, now, "You're very amusing."

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "Whaddya mean?"

He shook his head, still smiling to himself, "Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes, but decided to shrug it off, "Oh, well. Well, do you want to go train?"

He nodded. I gave him the look that said, 'Use words,' and he did, "Sure."

I smiled and got up. I grinned mischievously, "Wanna race?"

He rolled his eyes but said, "Sure."

My grin widened as we got into a ready position at his door, and then we raced to the tree outside his back door. It was unclear which one of us touched it first so I laughed it off while Itachi just shook his head, and we declared it a tie. We trained for an hour, at which time I had to go to therapy.

"See you in a bit!" I waved as I sprinted away.


	9. Chapter 9: Nobody Home

A/N: Hey, everyone! Late again, hahaha... Oh, well. Anyway, since I didn't get any answers for my question last chapter, I'm going ahead with trying different perspectives. Anyway, Thank y'all for reading. Sorry that this is only 2,600 words. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

I waved good bye to the receptionist at the therapist's.

"Have a nice day, Hitomi-chan," she smiled at me.

I nodded as I opened the door, "You too, Hisano-san"

I exited the building. Honestly, therapy always made me think about the people I had lost, the horrors I had been through, and the brokenness I carried inside. I breathed once I got outside the office. Clean air and sunshine. Two things common in Konoha. I smiled. I wasn't able to have much impact on the world in my previous lifetime. But I would completely rock this one. I exhaled as a wave of sadness swept over me when I thought of the people I no longer had, and the all too real possibility of losing all the people I had now. I shook my head violently, telling myself, 'you can do this,' and began my building-hop back to the Uchiha compound.

I put a smile on when I got close to the Uchiha compound and as I catapulted myself over the wall, I waved at the guards. One of them gave me a glare, the other completely ignored me.

'Rude! I'll prank him or something later. Actually, the entire Uchiha compound needs to be pranked,' I decided as I landed on the other side of the wall and bounced onto another building.

I reached Itachi's house, entered and took off my shoes as I shouted, "Tadaima!"

Mikoto answered from the kitchen, "Okaeri!"

I walked in and looked curiously at the pot that was emitting very delicious scents which she was stirring, "What're you making?"

She smirked, "You'll have to wait until dinner to find out, Tomi-chan."

I crinkled my nose, "Aww, but it smells so appetizing!"

She shook her head, chuckling, "It might, but you can wait."

"Yes ma'am..." I replied, jokingly dejected. I couldn't stop the smile for any longer than a few seconds, though. Then I asked, "Do you know where 'Tachi is?"

She nodded, "In the back, training with Fugaku."

"Oh," I replied, "I'd better not disrupt them, then."

She smiled, "Do you need to train?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but I can just go to one of the Training Grounds."

"I'd rather if you stayed here, Tomi," Mikoto smiled gently, "That way I can find you easily."

I nodded and proceeded to ask,"Would you mind showing me where a training area is, then?"

Mikoto smiled, "As long as you stay out of the way of my husband and son, you can use the backyard."

"Ok," I grinned, "I'll see you later, then!"

She nodded and I ran outside. I found Itachi practicing with his shuriken while his father watched.

"Four degrees to the left," Fugaku frowned.

Itachi applied the correction by throwing a shuriken four degrees to the left. It struck a different shuriken, sending it flying to hit another, which bounced off a fourth, and finally hit the target.

Fugaku shook his head, "Learn to do that in your head, son."

Itachi bowed, "Yes, father."

The two moved onto the next exercise, which I didn't bother watching. I waved to Itachi as he turned around. He shot me a small smile. I grinned at that and continued my Shadow Clone training.

I didn't hear Fugaku stop Itachi's training when I activated the jutsu, but he must have, as a minute later, Itachi was watching me as I began training with both myself and my Shadow Clone. I stopped when I realized he was watching me.

I stared at him as he stared at me. I grinned. He immediately got up to try to run, but my Shadow Clone came from the side and tackled him.

I cheered, "One for me!"

My shadow clone couldn't talk, still deformed and all, but it did give out a triumphant croak. I popped that one, and Itachi scrambled away, glad to be out of the clutches of my clone.

I went back to focusing on how much Yang chakra it took, and made another Shadow Clone. It was better this time. I looked at it and asked cautiously, "Can you talk?"

It replied happily, "Yep!"

We fist-bumped each other and cheered, "DID IT!"

Then we burst out laughing. I popped it, and created another. I was honing in on the correct amount of Yang chakra, it was just a matter of time. After about three more shadow clones (Not all at once), I felt my chakra reserves begin to feel depleted. I decided that that was enough for the day, and began running laps around Itachi's house. After I had done those, a couple pull-ups and sit ups, I stretched, and headed inside to grab my scroll.

I unrolled it on the side of the yard, facing Itachi and Fugaku. I dipped the brush into the ink, and stood to get a better look at the scroll. I tilted my head sideways and thought, 'Wait... this will require a second chamber to hold both Yin Kurama and Yang Kurama, since I still want to split them. Yang Kurama was already almost too much for Naruto to handle, except that he had Kushina's help. And Yin Kurama will be even harder... Well, things will be different this time... I'll seal a bit of my chakra in here with Yin Kurama to strengthen Naruto should the need arise. I trust that he'll be able to handle Yang Kurama.'

I nodded, got down on my knees, and finished drawing the fourth layer. To add the second chamber for Yin Kurama would take another layer, making this seal nine layers all in all. I shook my head, 'So many layers...'

I then began on the fifth layer. I didn't notice the shadows lengthening as I worked. Something about seals just made them... consuming. For me, at least. I got halfway through the fifth layer when Itachi came over and sat across from me, watching me work. I finished a brush stroke and looked at him.

"You done with your training?" I asked.

He nodded. I raised an eyebrow at him, at which he amended, "Yeah."

I smiled, "That's good!" And went back to the seal.

"It's dinner time," Itachi informed me after watching me for a few more minutes.

I added the last line of the base of the seal and stopped, "Oh. Ok! I'll be in in a minute, then."

Itachi shook his head, "I'll wait for you."

I smiled at him, "Thanks."

I blew on the seal to get it to dry a bit before I moved it inside. When it was dry enough to move, I rolled it up a little and moved it inside to the coffee table. Fugaku came in right as I set it down. He walked over to get a better look. His eyes widened. He looked at me sharply. I looked up at him and frowned.

"What?" I asked, confused.

He looked down at the scroll, then back at me.

I blinked, processing all the things he could be asking me with that, "Uh, it's practice?"

He frowned at me, then raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged, "I don't know what you're trying to say, Fugaku-san. I don't speak Uchiha."

He rolled his eyes and then asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," I replied, and went to get dinner.

I sat next to Itachi at the kitchen counter. We ate (The food was really good... Even though I didn't remember what it was called...) and then went to our rooms. Mikoto had set up a bed in the room next to Itachi's. The room across the hallway from the master bedroom was dedicated to the unborn Sasuke. I grabbed my seal on the way to my room, set it down in the middle of the floor, and continued working on it.

* * *

~Fugaku!~

* * *

"Kushina's adopted child is working on a seal," Fugaku said as he took a seat in the kitchen and his wife served him a bowl of soup.

His wife shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure that should be such a surprise, Fugaku. She may hide it with her grades, but the girl is brilliant."

Fugaku sighed, "I do not think she is good company for our son."

Mikoto shook her head, "Fugaku, I love you. But I also disagree with you on that. I've never seen Itachi smile so much as when she's around. She and Shisui both force him to express himself in other ways than in just facial expressions. They force him to use words, to relate to people, and to be an actual person. Hitomi especially."

Fugaku's expression softened the tiniest bit. This was one of the many reasons he had fallen in love with his wife. She took things from more than just a cost-benefit approach. She forced him to think about emotions, even if it was just a little bit more than he usually would.

He sighed, "I suppose..."

Mikoto leaned on the counter and met him in the eye, "I think that she and Shisui will be the only two true friends Itachi ever has. He needs them, Fugaku."

A semblance of a smile came to Fugaku's face, as he quietly conceded his wife's point. She walked over and hugged him.

"You'll see. Hitomi won't just change our son, I think. She might change the whole world," Mikoto mused.

"You like her," Fugaku chuckled.

Mikoto smiled, "Yeah, it's hard not to."

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

I stood from my scroll and looked down at it. It was just getting more complicated. Putting this into hand signs was going to suck, majorly. I shrugged and went to get ready for bed. Sleep sounded good.

I woke up the next morning to smells emitting from the kitchen. It smelled oddly like pancakes and eggs, but last time I checked, pancakes weren't really a thing in Japan... Well, only one way to find out. I got up and walked into the kitchen where Mikoto was making rice patties. And eggs. So I was right about that part. Still, I missed pancakes. And waffles. I needed to introduce them here... Eh, I'd do that later.

I ate breakfast, grabbed my school stuff and my scroll, and headed to the Academy with Itachi. Shisui met us at the Compound's gates.

"Yo! You guys ready for today?" Shisui asked.

I shook my head solemnly, "I will never be ready for today."

Shisui chortled, "Me neither."

The three of us headed to the Academy. It was another normal day, although a kid did try to pull a prank, but it failed when the teacher turned around to find him on the floor. He hadn't even gotten the thing completely set up.

Lunch was spent training and shoving food in our faces as quickly as possible so we could get back to class, and then the rest of the day was quiet. The three of us exited the building together.

"Jiraiya-san?" I asked nobody in particular when I saw him sprawled, half-propped up against the tree in front of the Academy where Naruto's swing was.

Shisui asked, "You gonna head over there? We'll wait for you."

I nodded and smiled, "I'll be right back."

I walked over and squatted down next to Jiraiya's face. He didn't have the wart, yet, so I poked his nose where it would someday be. He didn't move, so I poked him again, harder.

'This is probably not a good idea,' I laughed to myself as I poked him a third time.

I sighed and punched him on the shoulder, sending a now wide awake Jiraiya flying into the grass.

He rolled over and stood, on guard. When he saw me staring at him expectantly, he shook his head, "Kiddo, you've got quite the punch."

I shrugged and stood, "Comes with training, I guess. What's up?"

"I'm here to teach you about seals," Jiraiya stated, "And to bring you home."

"Are Kushina and Minato back?" I asked, excited.

He shook his head, "Not yet, kiddo. Just you and me at the house, tonight."

I sighed a little in disappointment, but covered it with a smile, "Ok. I'll go get my stuff from 'Tachi's house, then."

I saw the wheels turn in Jiraiya's head as he tried to think of who "Tachi" might be, "Uh... who's that?"

"Itachi," I replied, "You know, Uchiha?"

"Oh," He nodded in understanding, "All right. I'll come with you."

I smiled at him, "Ok."

I walked back over to Itachi and Shisui, Jiraiya following.

"Jiraiya's gonna teach me about seals tonight, so I'm going home for the night," I smiled at them.

Itachi nodded, "You will need your things."

I smiled at him, "Right!"

The four of us walked back, Jiraiya observing Shisui, Itachi and my conversations. I waved goodbye to Shisui as he took off home, and Itachi, Jiraiya and I continued to his house.

Itachi and I fell into comfortable silence until I asked Itachi, "Ne, do you like butterflies, Itachi?"

He frowned and looked at me, confused, "Well... I have... never taken the time to properly observe them... but I do like their colors."

I nodded and we fell back into silence until Itachi asked me, confused, "Why?"

I looked at him and shrugged, "Random questions, I guess."

He thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you like butterflies?"

"Some," I shrugged, smiling, "But I like Swallowtails the best."

Itachi frowned at me, "Swallowtails? What kind are those?"

"They've got yellow wings tinged with black, and usually have a dark blue dot in the center of the bottom half of their wings. Their wings appear to have a black tail when their wings are closed, hence their name," I smiled at Itachi.

Itachi tilted his head at me, "Is there a reason you like that kind better than any other?"

I thought for a moment, "Well, I suppose that it would be because there used to be tons of them where the Compound I used to live in was. They really liked the flowers we grew there."

Itachi blinked, expression unreadable for a moment before he asked, "What type of flowers were those?"

I laughed, "I don't remember. They're all blurry. I know that they were purple, though."

Itachi nodded, and we fell back into silence. We got to Itachi's house. Itachi walked in first.

Jiraiya stated, "I'll wait for you out here."

I nodded, "Ok," went inside, took my shoes off, and went to my room to grab my bags. I came back out of my room with my stuff and walked over to the kitchen where Mikoto was.

"Hey, Mikoto, Jiraiya-san wants me to come home for the night so he can teach me about seals," I stated, "I'll probably be back tomorrow night. He doesn't usually stay around long."

Mikoto smiled at me, "All right. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, then."

I nodded, went over to the door and put on my shoes. Jiraiya was waiting, hands in his Jonin vest (It was weird to see him wearing it and not the long robe-things you see him in during Naruto).

I shouldered my bag and said, "Ok, I'm ready to go!"

He looked over at me and nodded, "Right, then."

We left the Compound and traveled to Minato and Kushina's house.


	10. Chapter 10:War's End and Pretend

A/N: Hey, guys! Uh... I'm gonna have to change my update schedule to once every _TWO_ , I REPEAT **TWO** _weeks_ for this story. Thank you to all the people who left a review for me last week. I really appreciate it. Guest? The one who keeps asking me to update soon? I hear you. I really do. But I'm already a busy person. I have a life, and I'm doing my best to publish as is. Thank you for your dedication and support, it really does make me happy, but guys? _Please_ don't ask me to put out chapters faster than I already am. Anyway, again, thanks for the support, follows, favorites, and reviews! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! See you next time!

* * *

I unrolled the scroll I was using for my monster seal. Jiraiya and I were back at Kushina and Minato's apartment. Jiraiya sat on the couch, watching me with interest as I unrolled the scroll. I stepped back from it when it was displayed, in all its glory before him.

His eyebrows climbed towards his hairline as he whistled, "Wow, kid. It's not been that long since I last saw this thing, has it? It looks like you've fixed a majority of the old mistakes, and are setting up for... is that a-a double chamber?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I was thinking of ways to make it easier for a Jinchuriki to host a tailed beast, and I thought, well, what if they could control the exact amount of chakra that came out? And then I realized that it would be too hard to do that if the beast was still completely whole, so I wondered if splitting it would make any difference. I did the math, and turns out, the seal will be stronger, last longer, and be easier on both parties this way. It took me three hours to do, though..."

Jiraiya sat back and scoffed in amazement, "Kid, how are you doing this?"

I looked up at him and blinked in confusion for a moment. Then I mentally told him, 'Well, I'm actually an adult who is from a different universe, so I had a better grasp on concepts like these to begin with. Then you add in the fact that I had a couple months of complete boredom as a baby, and you have the end result.' But decided against saying that out loud, as it would definitely get me a visit to T and I. Instead, I shook my head and smiled at him, "Somehow."

He chuckled at that, "Well, the only things that I can see are, over there, in the part that you have marked in pencil? You need to rethink the math behind that. Think about the lettering, and the way it will fit in with the rest for a second. You'll see it."

I frowned and looked at where he was pointing. I stared at it for a second, then ran and grabbed a piece of paper to recalculate the math that led me to the conclusion that that line needed to be there. I realized my mistake about three minutes after I had finished the equation, and immediately face-palmed.

"Of course. It needs to be a X type line, not a Y," I shook my head and fixed it.

Jiraiya chuckled and then helped me figure out the rest of the errors in what I had in the pencil. We spent about five hours doing that, which was when I looked at a clock and realized that it was very, very late at night. At that point, I bid Jiraiya goodnight and went to bed.

The next morning, I got up to find Jiraiya gone, a sticky note scribbled hastily from him plastered on the fridge at an awkward angle.

'Had a mission. -Jiraiya.'

I rolled my eyes, scrapped it and grabbed my bags to head to the Academy. I got inside and waved at Itachi and Shisui. Shisui waved back wildly. Itachi waved, but in a much more reserved manner. I grinned and bounded up the stairs to them and slid into my seat next to Itachi.

"Yo," I greeted them as Shisui reached over to fist bump me. I met his fist with my own and grinned at him.

Itachi asked, "How did the lesson go?"

I smiled, "It was good. Sealing is a lot of fun. It helps that Jiraiya's a really good teacher."

Itachi nodded as the bell rang for class to start. The day was quite normal, nothing out of the ordinary, until that evening when I was with Itachi, teaching him and Shisui to play solitaire. I also intended to get up early the next morning (Ok, well, not quite early, per se, as it was Saturday, and there wouldn't be school, but still early enough), to make pancakes and waffles. And to see if anyone had maple syrup. And that was completely off topic. but anyway, it was as I was playing Solitaire with Itachi and Shisui that a rapid banging came from the door. I started and looked up to see Mikoto hurriedly opening the door.

"The war has ended."

* * *

~Mikoto!~

* * *

She stock still as the information processed. The war had ended. The war that had claimed so many of her kinsmen's lives, which had forced so many funerals, which had taken up so much space on the Memorial Stone, that war, had ended. It felt completely unreal. Fugaku would no longer be called out at random intervals to go possibly die, she didn't have to worry about Itachi possibly graduating and becoming a war-time Genin on the battlefield (At least until the next war broke out), she would get to spend time with her loved ones and friends. The war was over.

The man closed the door and walked off, at which a few, small tears escaped Mikoto's eyes. She smiled, swallowed, and walked over to hug the three children in her living room.

She whispered quietly, "The war is over..."

She felt Hitomi pat her back and Itachi fidget uncomfortably, at which she let go and hummed her way to the kitchen to cook something to celebrate. She knew the fighting would still go on for another two to three weeks, but the war itself was over. She shook herself out of her celebratory reverie and began one of the tastiest dishes she knew how to make. If only Kushina and Minato were back in town... However, they weren't, and Fugaku had been called away, last minute to a mission, so she was left alone with the kids. No matter. She could still invite Shisui's parents over for dinner, assuming they hadn't also been called out. Jiro and Fujiko, if she remembered their names correctly, which she was fairly certain she did.

She stuck her head around the corner, "Shisui, would you mind popping the question to your parents if they would come over for dinner?"

Shisui nodded readily, "Gladly, Mikoto-san!"

He took off out the door and Mikoto saw Hitomi smile brightly at her as Mikoto turned to go back into the kitchen. She heard Hitomi tell Itachi that she was going to help out with supper, and small footsteps pattered towards the kitchen.

Hitomi smiled at Mikoto, "How can I help?"

Mikoto smiled back, "By chopping those onions and peeling the garlic, as starters."

Hitomi saluted valiantly, "Yes, ma'am," And got to work.

The two worked alongside each other for quite some time until Mikoto determined, "All right, Tomi-chan. I can handle the rest on my own."

Hitomi fake-pouted, "Aww, you sure? I was having a lot of fun helping you, though..."

Mikoto shook her head and chuckled, "Get out of here, you little rascal."

Hitomi giggled and ran out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, she heard a knock at the door.

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

I grinned and hopped up to go answer the door. Three people stood outside, one was a creature commonly known as a wild Shisui, and people I assumed to be his parental units. I opened the door for them.

"Mikoto-san's almost done in the kitchen, I think. You're Shisui's mom and dad, right?" I queried.

Jiro nodded and gave me a small smile, "Yes. You must be Uzumaki Hitomi. Shisui has told us quite a bit about you."

I winked merrily and proposed as I moved out of the way for the two adults to enter, "All good things, I hope."

Fujiko smirked, "Mostly, mostly."

"Ahh, come on, Shisui! I expected more from you! I thought you were my friend! And you allowed your parents to have a negative impression of me? Shame, my friend, shame. You have dishonored your cow," I hung dramatically onto Shisui and wailed.

He clung to me, "Oh, my dearest friend, you know that I did not mean for my parents to acquire a bitter perspective of you! I am regretful that it has ever come to this!"

Itachi shook his head at our antics, at which I stuck out my tongue, "Oh, shut up you. You know you wish you were as good of friends as Shisui and I. You just refuse to profess it! Stupid Uchiha frozen emotions."

Itachi raised an eyebrow and questioned, "I thought you were fixing that."

I let go of Shisui in favor of grabbing Itachi's shoulders and giving him a shake every few words, "Ah, and there's the thing. I'm in the process of remediating your issues. I have not completed my task quite yet. No, we are yet quite a lengthy way from that."

He rolled his eyes at me.

"Ah, ah, ah, don't roll your eyes at me! Bad 'Tachi, bad," I scolded.

Itachi's face took on a serious level of concern, "Why is it that I detect that I am currently being treated as a dog?"

"Because you are," I nodded sagely, "You just need to accept it." I patted his head, but stopped mid-air on my second head-pat to think, "Ah, or would you be a ferret, or even a weasel? Well, that is your name, so... Hmm... But I've never heard of a pet Weasel... Difficult. Oh, well. Anyway, however you choose to slice, dice, or chop it, the matter still remains the same; you, Itachi Uchiha, must absorb the fact that you are a pet."

Itachi groaned and shook his head in a baffled and utterly defeated manner.

I laughed at his expression before trying to skip into the living room. Shisui, however, had a completely different agenda. He tackled me from behind, and Itachi took the opportunity to dog-pile on top of us.

"Oof," Escaped me as the air was forced out of my lungs. I complained, "Guys, you're heavy."

Shisui rolled his eyes, "No, we're not. You're just not using chakra."

I nodded, "True. But still. Shisui, what have you been eating lately? Potatoes, night and day? Oh, wait, your parents are here. I can ask them!"

Shisui grinned malevolently, "Not when you're buried 'neath Tachi and I and they're in the other room."

I raised my eyebrow, "Wanna bet?"

He gave me a feral grin, "Oh, it's on."

And the three of us got into a wrestling match. Long story short, it ended when Mikoto called out dinner. No winner was decided, unfortunately. And I ended up forgetting to ask about Shisui's eating habits.

The food was delicious, and afterwards, the three of us went back into the hallways to go do something I was sure neither of them had ever done- Play Imaginary.

Now, you probably are not familiar with this game (Although you may not know it, yet). It was just what my best friends and I used to call it when we were children. That, or Pretend. Either way, it's the same game, played by small children with large imaginations worldwide. In otherwords, it's the game where you pretend to be something you're not, in a place which you are not, in a time which you are not. The last one isn't exclusive, I have personally played Imaginary set in the present once or twice, perhaps thrice when I was a child, but that is not the point. The point is that Itachi and Shisui had never played 'Pretend,' or, 'Imaginary.' Or, as known by the name most adults call it, "Role-playing."

"So, have you guys ever played Pretend before?" I asked.

Shisui looked at me like I was from another planet (Hahaha, which I technically was), and replied, "No...? What's that?"

"Where you pretend you're someone or something you're not," I replied.

Itachi had a small frown on his face as he struggled for the right words, "Hn... That seems... a bit... useless."

I shrugged, "Not necessarily. My little and brother used to train for combat that way. We'd spar while playing Imaginary, and it was always a ton more fun that regular training. Wanna give it a shot, Tachi?"

He considered it for a moment, "Demonstrate, please."

I nodded and took a theatrical pose. I declared, "I am a soldier in a foreign country. This foreign country has strange weapons that fire when you pull a handle, and have to be aimed like kunai to hit a target. I am on a battlefield. This rug will be my weapon." I gestured down to the rug, then got on my knees and pretended to fire it, "We need more ammunition! Shisui, my brother in arms, can you hand me that... thing, whatever that is on the table?"

Shisui cackled and complied, "Here you go, my sister! May your aim be true!"

I nodded, taking the... thing. I'm not really sure what it was, but I replied in all seriousness, "Thank you!"

Shisui backed up and I pretended to fire the weapon, complete with a, "Bang!"

The little act got Shisui on board, and it wasn't long before Itachi decided that it was a lot of fun, too. So, the three of us played Imaginary. Until it was time for Shisui to leave, and for us to go to bed.


	11. Chapter 11: Dishes and Announcements

A/N: Hey, Guys! I wonder why I still even have a schedule. I've gone a day over for... quite a while, now. I have honestly missed writing Kushina. Weird how characters grow on you like that... Well, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you next update!

* * *

Imaginary had become our primary form of training together. I was so proud of both my friends. They took to it so well.

A few weeks after the war ended, I was still at Itachi's house, though Mikoto and Fujiko had begun sharing me. Apparently, Shisui's parents really began to appreciate me after the scene in the hallway. Which made me happy, as it meant more time to be spent with my fluffy-head friend. Speaking of whom...

Shisui looked up at me, eyes narrowed, "You. Have been staring at me for the past five minutes. What is it that you require, Tomi."

I replied, "Your hair. It looks really fluffy. It makes me want to pet it."

"Oh. Ok!" Shisui agreed, rolling across our homework papers to put his head in range.

I stroked his hair experimentally. IT WAS COARSE! My search for an Uchiha with coarse hair had finally ended! Or, it was at least semi coarse. As coarse as is possible in the Uchiha clan. Mikoto had let me touch her hair, and had described Fugaku's hair to me because I doubt he'd ever let me touch it. I also was introduced to Itachi's aunt sometime, and she was really strict, but also nice, in her own way. Her husband was pretty lax, so he let me touch his hair. It was so soft. All Uchihas, except Shisui and possibly his father have super soft hair. It has been upgraded to a Theory, if not a Law.

"It's actually kinda coarse, aa!" I observed in awe to Shisui.

Shisui raised an eyebrow at me, "Yeah, that's why I wear it messy. It won't conform to anything other than floppy spikes."

I laughed, "Hehe, well, congratulations, you have ended a search of mine." I let him roll back over to side of the floor.

When he got there, he sat up and asked, "Search for what? Uchihas with coarse hair?"

I nodded, "Yep. Exactly that."

He faked a hurt expression, but his chakra was laughing, "Why did you not include me in this hunt, Hitomi? I am hurt!"

I replied, a hand over my heart, "Ah, alas, Shisui, I simply did not think to notify you that I was trying to pet all the Uchiha's hair."

Shisui burst out laughing, and I couldn't help it, so I followed suit. After a minute, we quieted down and went back to our work.

"Ne, Hitomi, can I ask you something?" Shisui asked, staring at me.

"Uh, yeah. You can always ask me stuff. What's wrong?" I looked up and asked.

He swept his gaze around the room, obviously looking for something.

"What're you looking for?" I asked.

He grimaced, "Hm. Can we take this to... I don't know, not the living room?"

I nodded, "Sure. We can head to one of the guest rooms, or just your room."

He sighed and got up, "Yeah. My room?"

"Whatever works!" I smiled at him.

We walked over to his room, taking our homework stuff with us. We sat in the floor.

I got deja-vu suddenly, as he closed the door, "Have you been reading the History books?"

He started a little bit, "Yeah, how'd you know?"

I shook my head, "Itachi and I have been reading them for a while... I'm assuming you don't like what you see, either?"

He nodded, "Yeah... I tried to ignore it, but I just can't stop thinking about it... the direction Konoha and the Clan are going in is... bad, to say the least..."

I gave a short, dry laugh, "No kidding."

Shisui looked up at me, and I immediately knew he heard something of what was behind what I had just said.

"Hitomi, do you... know something?" Shisui frowned.

I bit the inside of my lip, trying to think of a way to tell him without really telling him.

"Well..." I hesitated, "Shisui, can you trust me?"

Shisui replied in all honesty, "I can. I do, you are a trustworthy person."

I shook my head a little at that, but continued, "I'm glad you think that... Shisui, you're right. I do know something, and I'm going to do something about what I know. But what I know isn't... it can't be shared, if you understand."

He frowned for a moment, then slowly formed, "What... like ANBU kinda things?"

"Worse," I frowned, "There's some pretty deep corruption in here..." I felt Shisui's parents come withing hearing range, "But we can fix that through the triumph over the dishes!"

I smiled at Shisui. He got my hint.

"Yes. We shall triumph over the dishes. Is there any way I might help you triumph over the dishes, dearest friend of mine?" Shisui asked dramatically.

I nodded, "Yes, there is. Don't get caught in a spider's web, Shisui. Also, don't trust the lolipops. They're bad for your teeth."

He frowned at me, confused, so I mouthed, "Tell you later."

He nodded, having understood. Shisui's mom opened the door.

"What are you two doing in here?" Fujiko asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

We replied in unison, "Studying!"

We turned to each other and made funny faces before falling over laughing.

She raised an eyebrow, "Really? I heard something about conquering dishes... And that doesn't seem like studying to me."

I held up my hands in an apologetic manner, "I'm sorry, we got off track momentarily. Shisui asked... actually, I don't remember how it started, but I remember something about cows, then fish, then water, and then we got onto dishes."

She shook her head, amused, "Well, get back to studying, you two. I'd better see you two doing your best."

I smiled at her brilliantly and chorused with Shisui, "We will!"

I turned back to Shisui as the door closed and Fujiko's chakra signature walked off. He winked at me. I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed, and we were back to studying.

Later that night, Shisui came to my room in his house after his parents had gone to bed. I was sitting on the floor, finishing up the draft of the sixth layer of my seal. Jiraiya and I would go over it... sometime. Kushina and Minato hadn't been back, yet. I... was... worrying about them. In my mind, I knew that they were all right, but... my dreams said differently. I would also have nightmares about the night of the Kyuubi attack, and... it was them, and my parents, both sets, that were impaled on Kurama's claw... and instead of Naruto in the basket, it was my... previous little brother. Oh, well.

Shisui closed the door and sat down across from me and looked at my seal, "It has something to do with this, doesn't it."

I snorted a little in morbid amusement as I activated the privacy seals I had set up earlier as a precaution for this conversation, "Yeah... Something bad is going to happen soon, and a lot of people are going to die... if I don't stop it."

"How can I help," Shisui demanded.

Honestly, I had been expecting him to barrage me with questions, not just ask how he could help. I answered, "I'm going to go out of the shelters on a night that the sky is red. I need you to vouch for me."

"Sure. Where will you be going, if you can tell me?" Shisui asked.

I looked him in the eye, "The eye of the storm."

He frowned, confused again. He muttered it to himself, "Eye of the storm... That reminds me. What was that about lolipops and spiders?"

"Stay away from Elder Shimura. Whatever you do, ok, Shisui?" I looked at him, dead serious.

He stared at me for a moment before nodding slowly, "Ok... I can do that. What about the other one? Whichever one he was?"

"The lolipop is not Elder Shimura. The lolipop is orange, wears a black cloak, and comes in the darkest hour bringing despair disguised as hope," I replied.

"So it's a person. Who is this person?" Shisui asked.

I shook my head, "I can't tell you that."

He paused for a moment before nodding decisively, "Ok. I understand. It's something to do with seals, possibly a Jinchurikii, there's someone who looks like a lolipop in a black cloak who I should avoid, and I should also avoid the... spider? You called him?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"And you need me to cover for you during a huge, possibly dangerous event," Shisui clarified.

I scoffed, "Not possibly, Shisui. Hugely dangerous."

He looked at me askew, "Hitomi, if you're doing something stupid..."

I shook my head, "It's only about one fourth stupid, a half selfish, and the other quarter selfless."

He frowned in confusion. I smiled at him, "You'll see when it happens."

He sighed, "I suppose."

He got up and I smiled at him, "Night!"

He looked at me, unusually serious, "Hitomi, just... don't get yourself killed."

I dropped the smile, "I won't. Take that as a promise."

He nodded and turned quickly to go, mumbling over his shoulder, "Night."

The next day, we had school as normal, but when I walked out of the building, Shisui and Itachi at my side (Shisui had been a little more quiet than normal that day. I didn't blame him, though. I had given him a lot to think about), imagine my surprise when I saw vibrant red hair and gold hair standing out front, debating about something. I didn't stop to think. I just started running toward them. Kushina was closer, so I went barreling into her left leg. She looked down at me in surprise, then smiled as wide as she could and picked me up, hugging me tightly. I hugged her back. After she was done with me, I turned around to Minato after giving Kushina a look. She got the gesture and threw me at Minato. (Don't try this at home. Throwing small children is not good for their health.) I laughed as Minato scrambled to catch me.

Minato put me down after I had gotten a proper hug from him. I bounced on my toes and almost asked a question, but Minato beat me to it.

"Are you still right where you want to be in class, Hitomi?" Minato asked, smiling slightly.

"Yep! I kept my grades the same!" I smiled.

It then turned into a barrage of questions, things like, 'did you attend your therapy weekly, did you train, did you enjoy your lessons with Jiraiya,' etc. I then remembered that I had to go get my stuff from Shisui's house.

"Hey, M..." I stopped myself. I exhaled and tried again, "... Kushina, could I get my stuff from Shisui's house? I've been staying with him and Itachi. By the way, Mikoto and Fujiko are my fourth and fifth moms now."

Kushina pouted, "Aww, but where am I?"

I tapped my chin thoughtfully, then burst out in a radiant smile, "I don't know. Maybe third, maybe second, aa!"

Kushina smiled at me, though there was a sad shadow over it which she quickly shook off, "Well, anyway, yes, you may. We'll be waiting for you at the house, ttebane."

I grinned at them, "Ok! See you there!" And ran off to go follow Itachi and Shisui (who had left without me, the jerks).

* * *

~Kushina!~

* * *

Kushina shook her head sadly, "She was going to say Mom."

Minato looked at her, "I know."

"I wish she let herself call me that," Kushina said wistfully.

Minato put his arm around Kushina's shoulders, "She probably will, in time."

Kushina shook her head, still dejected, "And what's with the five moms? I feel so... betrayed!"

Minato chuckled, "You could ask her about it. She would most likely tell you."

"Hehe, probably, ttebane," Kushina smiled, "Anyway, we should head home, ttebane. We've been gone for a long time. It'll probably need to be cleaned."

Minato nodded, "Probably."

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

I skipped home, my bag slung over my shoulder, trying to figure out how to whistle. That had been something I had never figured out how to do in my past life, and I couldn't figure it out in this life for the life of me, either! Frustrating.

I had said good bye to Fujiko, Jiro (He had been on duty, just got back the day before), Shisui, Mikoto, and Itachi last of all. He had been waiting for me at the gate of the compound.

I got to the Kushina and Minato's house and went in, taking my shoes off once I was inside the front door. I frowned at the lack of noise and poked my head around the corner to see Kushina gawking at the cleaning I had done last week, Minato chuckling quietly at her stupified expression. I had made it a habit to clean the house while the two were gone, one part of the house per day. It made it pretty easy to get done.

Kushina whirled and stalked over to me, "Hitomi."

I blinked in confusion, "Yes?"

"You clean better than I do, ttebane. You've gotta show me how you do this, ttebane!" Kushina exclaimed.

I smiled at her, "I'll be sure to the next time the house needs to be cleaned."

She grinned back at me before asking, "Do you have any homework?"

I nodded, "Not much. It feels like the assignments have been getting easier. But I do have a monster seal to work on." I smiled at the last part. The seal was coming along great. The sixth layer had been the quickest layer so far. I had finished the draft in three days, and it would take me about four to draw the actual calligraphy in. The other layers had taken at least five days for the first draft, and then a week for the calligraphy.

Kushina smiled fondly back at me, "Well, get to it then. I want to work with you on it a bit, too."

I nodded, "Yes, ma'am!"

I ran to my room and quickly finished my homework, then bringing the monster seal into the living room where all three of us could get a good look at it. Kushina and Minato were surprised at how far I had come in the time they had been gone, and helped me with the sixth layer, helping me set up for the seventh, eighth and ninth layers. There was a lot going on in the seal.

We worked on it for a couple hours, ate dinner, worked on the seal together for another hour, and then we all went to get some rest.

The next day, I went to the Academy, only to find Daikoku standing out front, telling kids that the day was going to be a bit abnormal.

"Hi, Daikoku-san! What's the fuss?" I asked him.

He smiled at me, "The Hokage is going to make an announcement today."

I tilted my head at him, "What kind of announcement?"

Daikoku shook his head, chuckling, "Well, you'll hear that in the announcement, won't you?"

I pursed my lips and replied, "I suppose..."

One of the kids complained loudly, I think it was Saisu Kamano, "Why can't you just tell us now, you old geezer."

I wheeled and sure enough, Saisu was behind me. I replied shortly to him, "Because the Hokage wants to tell us. Learn some patience, will you?"

He glared at me, "Nobody was talking to you."

"But you were behind me," I replied, "And Daikoku-sensei is not a 'geezer,' as you so skillfully stated."

Daioku patted me on the head, "Now, now. Thank you, Hitomi-chan, but it's really not necessary. Saisu, Hitomi is right. It is the Hokage's business to tell you that."

Saisu rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever."

I shook my head and went around Saisu to go find Itachi and Shisui. I saw them sitting across from each other, discussing something in hushed voices. I walked over, and they both looked up.

"Hitomi, why didn't you tell me about the pile of dishes?" Itachi asked.

I sighed, "Well, I was going to. Seriously, Shisui? You ruined the surprise. Anyway, now the three of us are all caught up, at least. Sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner."

Shisui rubbed the back of his head, "It's all right."

Itachi nodded, "It is. But tell us before you decide act upon stupid ideas, Hitomi."

I rolled my eyes, "This isn't stupid. Or, at least, isn't completely stupid. It's something that needs to happen."

Itachi and Shisui shook their heads in utter defeat in unison.

Shisui sighed, "Tomi, there's gotta be more ways we can help conquer the dishes."

I shrugged, "The watching out my back for water about to spew on my clothes is enough. And you guys know to be afraid of the spiders and the cavities that lolipops give you, so there's not really anything else."

Itachi sighed and shook his head, exasperated, while Shisui pressed again, "Are you SURE?"

I nodded, completely and totally and absolutely and, ok, there may have been that tiny, teensy tiny corner of doubt hidden deep within the back corner of my mind that nagged and laughed at how a grown woman in the body of a six-year-old was going to try to do something this monumental. Maybe I did have that doubt. _Maybe_ , MAYBE I did. It didn't stop me from answering, "I'm positive."

Shisui and Itachi exchanged glances, and Shisui sighed while Itachi shook his head.

"Whatever you say. We're just waiting for the announcement, right?" Shisui asked.

I nodded, "Yeah. Oh, look at all the people coming to hear the announcement."

Itachi and Shisui turned to look where I was gesturing. Sure enough, a crowd of people all talking excitedly among each other was making their way over. I noticed a few Nara, a wild Fugaku with bags under his eyes and a few nameless Uchiha trailing along behind him, a couple Hyuuga, Hinata's father included, who were trading glares with the Uchiha, a couple Aburame were in the back with the Yamanaka and the Akimichi. The Inuzuka were really boisterous and loud as they walked alongside the small company of Hyuuga. There were also a few clans I didn't recognize, as well as some civilians.

I tried to find Kushina and Minato in the crowd, but couldn't make them out from where I was standing. We were directed to the Hokage tower where I saw Hiruzen on the roof. I turned around to try to find Kushina and Minato again after Itachi, Shisui and I had found somewhere far away from the fangirls to stand. Then I saw Kushina come running from the side, grinning like a madwoman. She scooped me up and nuzzled my cheek, perhaps a bit too hard, then set me down.

I looked at her jubilant face, "I'm assuming you know what the announcement is about?"

She nodded, "Yep, dattebane!"

"Care to share?" I asked with a sly undertone.

She rolled her eyes and booped me on the nose, "Nope."

I pouted, "Aww."

She smiled at me and put me down, turning to the two resident Uchiha, "How are you boys?"

Shisui grinned, "Doing well, thanks, Kushina-san!"

Itachi nodded solemnly, "The same applies for me."

She nodded before performing a little happy kind of dance, "That's good. Hehe, I can't wait for the announcement!"

I tilted my head at her, "Where's Minato?"

She danced a little more, "You'll see."

The cryptic answer wasn't doing anything to help me figure out what was going on, so I just rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me," Kushina grinned.

I shrugged. And burst out laughing when I heard Itachi mutter under his breath, "And she told me to use words."

Shisui elbowed him in the side, and Kushina also joined in laughing a bit.

The Hokage's voice rang out from the platform, "Might I have everyone's attention?"

Immediately, a hush fell upon the people gathered.

"I have gathered everyone here today in order that I might announce the potential candidates for Hokage."


	12. Chapter 12: Jiraiya and Ramen

A/N: Hey, Guys! Anybody ready to go on campaign to kill homework? Ha. I wish. Well, anyway, here's the chapter, hope you guys enjoy. See you next time.

* * *

"I have gathered everyone here today to announce the potential candidates for the next Hokage, as I will be resigning soon," Hiruzen stated, his voice projecting over the congregation of people.

A general murmur swept across the crowd before falling silent as Hiruzen announced, "The candidates will be..."

I frowned and thought, "Wasn't it just Minato? Ugh. I don't remember enough of the stuff that happened before the main plot."

"Orochimaru," Hiruzen stated first, and the snake-creep came forward.

I stared in surprise at him, thinking, "Wait, what? Why is Orochimaru a candidate? Ok, think about it. Orochimaru, genius scientist, not socially adept, but as seen in Kakashi's case, socially adept isn't really needed, uh... yeah, I see why... Oh, I am an idiot. I forgot that one of the reasons that Orochimaru went bat-shit insane and ran away from Konoha was the fact that he lost the title of Hokage to Minato. I should probably not forget important stuff like that, huh? I'd better write that down when I get home..."

"And Minato," Hiruzen continued as Minato walked onto the balcony, "will be the candidates. The announcement of who I have decided will be Hokage will come in seven weeks."

The crowd erupted into applause, Minato and Orochimaru waved to the audience, and walked away from the edge. I applauded with the rest of the people there. Kushina caught me up in a bear hug when Daikoku began herding us back to the classrooms.

"Oof," The air escaped my lungs from the force of her hug. I patted her back as I said, "Congrats... Could I get some air?"

Kushina laughed and let go of me, "Have a good day, Tomi."

I smiled at her, "You too, Kushina. I'll see you after school."

She waved jubilantly and shouted after us, "Aa, dattebane!"

We got back to the classroom, class started, and the day proceeded as normal.

Four days later, August ended and September began. I decided to go to the Memorial Stone.

"Ne, Kushina, do you have time to come with me to the flower shop?" I asked her as I was lying on the floor, working on the seal.

She looked at me and replied, "Yeah, I do. Why?"

"I wanted to go put some flowers at the Memorial Stone," I replied.

I felt her chakra still a little bit before she replied, "Oh... I think that's a great idea, Tomi. Can I come put them at the Memorial Stone with you?"

I nodded at her, "Sure thing, Kushina."

I rolled up my seal and put it in my room, then walked to the door where Kushina was waiting for me. We put on our shoes and set out to go to the flower shop.

The bell rang as we walked in, and the woman behind the counter greeted cheerily, "Good afternoon! How may I help- Oh, Kushina! And aren't you that little girl who came in here a while ago for flowers for the Memorial Stone? Um... Haruka? No, your name was... Hitomi...?"

I smiled at her, "Yep! That's my name."

"Kushina, I wasn't aware you had a child!" Midori exclaimed.

Kushina just smiled, "She's adopted."

Midori inhaled in realization, "Oh... Well, anyway, welcome back. What can I get you two?"

Kushina looked down at me, "Did you have a particular bouquet in mind?"

"One meaning honor, love, and peace," I responded.

Midori nodded, "Coming right up. That's the same one you ordered last time... going to the Memorial Stone again, huh?"

Kushina looked down at me, "Yes, we are."

Midori quickly put the bouquet together. White roses, a single red rose, and blue hydrangea made up the bouquet. She gave us the price, we paid, and walked out. I looked at the bouquet as I carried it and laughed a little to myself. I hadn't realized this until now, but the three colors were red, white and blue. The colors of the country I used to live in. Kushina noticed my silent laugh.

"What's funny?" She asked, curious.

I shook my head, smiling, "The color combination."

She frowned, confused, "What about it?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. It just seems funny."

She pursed her lips and thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

We continued on in silence until we reached the Stone. I put the bouquet down and knelt on the side of Rin and Obito's names.

"Hi, guys. Sorry I haven't been coming very often," I smiled at Rin and Obito's names, "Rin-san, Obito-san, how are you? Has Sparky-san gotten any happier?"

Kushina sat down heavily next to me, "Are you talking about Kakashi?"

I looked at her, "You know him?"

Kushina's expression became pained, "He was Minato's apprentice... and Rin and Obito were with him on a team."

"Oh," I replied, looking back at the stone. "Well... That's interesting... Man, now I really wish I could have met them, aa..."

Kushina's chakra was saddened greatly, so I turned and hugged her.

She patted my head, "I'm all right, Tomi... Just... I miss them..."

"Was Rin-san like your daughter?" I asked her.

She smiled sadly, "Yeah, and Obito-kun like my son."

I looked up at her, "Well, they're pretty awesome people."

Kushina looked at me, confused, "How'd you figure that out?"

"Well, they made it onto the Memorial Stone. It's only Ninja who die heroically during missions or trying to save Konoha that get their names written on here, right?" I asked, trying to lead her to see my point.

"Ah... So because of that, they were awesome, huh?" Kushina mused.

I nodded, "Yep."

She laughed a little, "Well, I'll have you know you're right. They were awesome."

I could have sworn I felt the tiniest fluttering of chakra somewhere in a tree behind us, but when I turned to look, it was gone.

"What is it?" Kushina asked.

I shook my head and smiled at her, "Nothing."

We went home, and I went back to my seal. A nagging feeling in the back of my head said something was... odd about the chakra I had felt. I couldn't get the feeling of it out of my head. It had been so... sad. Not dark, sad. Like a sun that has storm clouds disrupting it.

"Holy mother of pearl," I sat back and breathed, eyes wide in realization. Kushina looked up from the kitchen counter.

"What?" She asked.

I shook my head and said the first thing that came to mind, "Oh, just... the magnitude of the seal is all." After I said that, I went back to working on the seal and thought, "Holy shit, that was Obito. That was OBITO. He heard what I said... Hahaha, holy shit. Well, then. He knows I exist... Trouble. I can't do anything about it... Well, he probably won't really bother me. I should go to the Memorial Stone more often... Though I might be putting myself in danger by doing so... Actually, no, I wouldn't. At least, I hope I wouldn't. Ugh. It might be worth it. Is the risk worth it? ... Yeah, it is. As long as I don't say anything stupid, I should be safe. And he can't actually see inside my head unless I stare at his eyes."

I shook my head and applied myself to the seal. My goal was to have it done by February of the next year. Naruto was born October 10th. I couldn't remember how long Kushina's pregnancy was, but as long as I finished the seal before October next year, I would be fine. I hoped.

As for Shadow Clones, I had perfected the technique, and summoning them had become fairly easy. Ah! I was an idiot! I hadn't been using them to help me with the seal.

I activated the technique, and the two of us continued working on the seal.

* * *

!Kushina~!

* * *

Kushina watched Hitomi as she made the sign for the Shadow Clone technique, and then continued working alongside the newly-formed clone.

"Tomi... you grow so quickly," Kushina thought, "She has been working so hard on the seal. It makes me wonder sometimes if she really is just doing it for practice, but I can't imagine what else she would use it for."

Kushina shook her head and went back to the dishes. They had piled up after the three days which she had procrastinated doing them.

Minato came in through the door and called both happily and tiredly, "Tadaima."

She and Hitomi both chorused, "Okaeri!"

Hitomi was immediately up and off her feet, running to greet Minato. Kushina walked out from behind the counter and went to give him a hug and a kiss.

"How's the selection process going?" Kushina asked.

Minato replied, "It's... coming. However, in the end, it will be up to Hiruzen-sensei."

Kushina nodded, "That's very true... Hehe, I still hope you receive the position."

Minato smiled gently, "Me too."

"Ne, ne, Minato," Tomi's voice interjected, "You called Hokage-sama sensei. Why's that?"

Minato looked down at Hitomi and replied, "Well, because he was my sensei back when I was a genin."

Hitomi tilted her head and blinked, processing the information before smiling broadly, "Cool."

Kushina then asked, "Are you two hungry? I can get started on dinner now."

Minato nodded, "That would be much appreciated."

"Can I help?" Hitomi asked.

Kushina nodded, "Sure thing, Tomi!"

The two Uzumaki went into the kitchen and began cooking while Minato looked at the scroll on the floor, still being worked on by Hitomi's clone.

"Hitomi, which one of you is you?" Minato asked her.

Kushina watched Hitomi hop down from on top of a stool and stick her head around the side of the peninsula, "I am. That one's the clone."

Minato nodded, and the small redhead hopped back up to help Kushina chop vegetables.

* * *

!Hitomi!~

* * *

I felt Jiraiya's chakra signature making its way toward the house, and he came in through the window.

He announced grandly, "Jiraiya, the great Toad Sa-"

Kushina's fist connected with his jaw, "You IDIOT! You've been gone for the past week! Where on earth have you been!"

Jiraiya laughed nervously, "S-spying?"

I continued chopping vegetables as I asked over my shoulder, "Sure you don't mean researching?"

Four more irritation marks had sprung up on Kushina's head by the time I turned around to see her punch Jiraiya again, "PERVERT! You already corrupted Tomi?!"

I replied, "Kushina, it's kinda hard not to pick up on his giggling and blushing in the street whenever he sees a lady with her butt hanging out of her shorts, or large amounts of cleavage showing. Don't worry. I'm not corrupted by him; I just notice things."

Jiraiya burst out laughing and Minato winced with a pained smile on his face as Kushina pummeled the Toad Sage into the floor.

Kushina finally finished with Jiraiya. She stood, then glared at him, "Jiraiya, never be perverted around Tomi again."

Jiraiya was rubbing the massive lumps on his head as he replied, "Kushina, that's who I am. I can't control it!"

I rolled my eyes, "Suuuuuure, aa."

Minato chuckled as Kushina looked over her shoulder at me and whined, "When did you become so corrupted?"

I shrugged, "Not sure. Maybe when I read the dictionary."

Kushina squawked in indignation, "You read the dictionary? Since when?"

"Since I had a couple study halls at the Academy, forgot my scroll, and the only book I hadn't read on the classroom shelf was the dictionary," I replied.

Minato shook his head, laughing silently. Jiraiya's eyebrows climbed toward his hairline, "Kiddo, that takes dedication."

I frowned, "Thanks, I guess...?"

Minato suddenly gave a small jumping movement before looking at Kushina, "Kushina, do you mind if I go get Kakashi?"

Kushina's eyes lit up, "He's free?! Yeah! I'd love for him to eat with us, dattebane!"

Minato smiled, "I'll be right back, then," and shun-shin'd away.

I looked at Kushina, "Sparky-san's eating with us?"

Kushina burst out laughing before answering, "Yes, but I have to know; where'd you get that name for him, anyway?"

"His chakra," I replied simply, "It's like an electrified puppy."

Kushina wheezed in laughter and almost fell over, and Jiraiya's booming laughter filled the room.

"An electrified puppy. I will so have to call him that later, dattebane! Just to see how he reacts," Kushina laughed.

I nodded, "I think that it will be lovely."

Kushina and I went back to making food, and increased the quantity we were making so that we could feed everyone. What were we making, one might ask? Ramen! What else?

I helped her put the ingredients into the pot, at which point she shooed me out of the kitchen. I obeyed, but gesticulated wildly as I left at a run. I made a beeline for the couch, next to Jiraiya. He was occupying my favorite corner of the couch (The sin!) so I opted for the one on the other side. A pillow was in my way, though... Shadow Clone to the rescue!

My Shadow Clone reached the couch before me, and pulled the pillow out of the way right as I leaped for the corner. I rolled into a ball and squeaked in surprise as my Shadow Clone decided to slam the pillow onto my face and run away to go work on the seal some more.

I glared at her, "How dare you, aa!"

She stuck her tongue out at me, "You could just dismiss me, aa!"

I rolled my eyes, "But then I'd have to make another and that's too troublesome."

"Aah, how I wish floppy spikes was here. He would caution you of the dangers of Nara-ness," the Shadow Clone replied.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Well then he'd have to caution both of us because we're one person."

"True," my clone replied.

I waved my hand lazily, "Ok, get back to work."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Jiraiya's chuckles attracted my attention, "What?"

He shook his head, smiling, "I have never seen someone do that with their clones before."

I frowned, "That's unfortunate. I knew Konoha needed more laughs, but I didn't know they needed them that bad."

Jiraiya gave me a weird look, "More laughs?"

I held out my fingers and counted, "More laughs, more hugs, more smiles, more peace, and less stupidity. Or, more stupidity, depending on which kind of stupid we're talking about."

"Which type of stupid do we need less of?" Jiraiya asked, his head tilted slightly as he regarded me.

"The Hyuuga kind. As in, most Hyuuga have sticks up their butts. Same goes for the Uchiha. Wanna help me pull a joint prank on the two compounds?"

I heard Kushina erupt into laughter from the kitchen. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at me, "You serious?"

I nodded, "Completely. I was gonna do it with Shisui and hence Itachi, though it's gonna be harder to convince Itachi because he can be a little bit of a stick in the mud at times, but usually he's not."

"You were going to prank the Hyuuga and Uchiha compound with the heir of the Uchiha clan and his best friend?" Jiraiya stared at me in disbelief.

I nodded, "Uh-huh. And maybe a Hyuuga if I can find one who's chill. But that's unlikely."

Jiraiya sighed, "I'm not one for pranks."

I pursed my lips and replied, "I figured. Just thought I'd ask."

Kakashi and Minato's chakra signatures hurtled towards the appartment and stopped outside the front door. The two walked in. I waved at Kakashi.

"Hey, Sparky-san!" I smiled.

His visible eye widened a little before he grouched, "I told you my name, didn't I?"

I grinned, "Yeah, but I'm calling you Sparky-san."

He rolled his eyes. I raised an eyebrow, "Well, somebody's grumpy, huh?"

He sighed and shook his head. I stuck my tongue out at him. Minato moved to look at my seal again, and Jiraiya leaned forward, his attention now on the massive drawing.

Kushina ran out of the kitchen and wrapped Kakashi in her arms, hugging the stuffing out of the fifteen or sixteen-year old.

"HowhaveyoubeenImissedyousomuchwhyhaven'tyoubeenstoppingbyIneedmorehugsfromyou, you little electrified puppy," Kushina's words tumbled rapidly in succession.

Kakashi wheezed for air. I raised my hand, "Ne, Kushina, you might wanna let go. He's turning blue."

"Oh. Sorry, Kakashi," Kushina let go.

He caught his breath before he sighed and responded, "Missions have been keeping me busy."

"Hmmm... Well, you still need to come over more often," Kushina decided, "You're not allowed to hide in your apartment all the time."

Kakashi shrugged a little bit in resignation.

Kushina went back into the kitchen, "The food will be done in a couple minutes. You can sit down, Kakashi."

Kakashi looked over at the seal, and his eye widened considerably. Jiraiya chuckled at his face, "Hitomi's creation."

Kakashi turned to regard me with a different light in his eye. I squinted at him, then twisted and contorted my face at him.

* * *

~Kakashi!~

* * *

There was no better word for the seven-year old other than weird. Impossibly weird. Both completely immature and frighteningly mature, evidently smart, and impossibly weird. Or so Kakashi thought as she gave him a grotesque face. He shook his head at her antics before sitting as far away from her as he could get on the couch.

"I can't see you being good with children."

The little red-head was staring at him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, silently asking her to go on. She refused him. Which, if he was being perfectly frank, kind of annoyed him.

She was instead staring at Jiraiya's hair.

"Can I pet your hair, Jiraiya?" She tilted her head.

Kakashi didn't need to see Jiraiya's face to tell Jiraiya was confused. A small smile appeared on Minato's face, and a small burst of a titter rose from Kushina in the kitchen.

"Sure...? Just don't pull on it, Kiddo," Jiraiya looked back at the child.

She grinned at him, "No worries."

Jiraiya nodded and went back to looking at the seal, but Kakashi could tell he was distracted by the fact that the red-head was petting his hair. Obito would have gotten along well with her... Kakashi closed his eye, willing himself not to think about them here.

He wasn't sure how the little girl could tell what he was feeling, but he felt her hand pat his leg. He opened his eye to see her smiling at him.

"I said 'Hi' to them today. Obito says 'Hi' back," Hitomi smiled.

Kakashi's eye widened in surprise. He hadn't expected the girl ever to return to the Memorial stone, nor to remember his teammates' names. He shook his head a little, clearing his mind, "The dead don't talk."

Hitomi shrugged, "If you say so."

The cryptic answer the girl had given him made Kakashi tilt his head at her, "What do you mean?"

She looked straight at him, "Exactly what I said. You said so, so it must be so. Perception is 90% of reality."

Minato and Jiraiya were both staring at her now, and a silence had fallen over the apartment.

"Sorry, I'm a mood-killer, aren't I?" Hitomi smiled brightly. A little too bright, in Kakashi's opinion.

"Hitomi, where did you hear that phrase?" Minato asked.

Hitomi's red hair faced Kakashi as she turned to answer Minato's question, "My brain. As in, it seems to be true from what I've seen."

Minato looked down at the paper.

Hitomi tilted her head, "Something wrong?"

Minato shook his head, "No, nothing. Hitomi, what are you trying to set up in this area of the seal? I...don't understand it entirely."

The wad of short red hair bounded over to Minato to see what he was pointing at. Then, the three fuinjutsu practitioners got into the mechanics of the seal. None of which Kakashi understood, so he tuned it out.

Kushina came out of the kitchen, "The seal is terribly interesting, I know, but the food's ready."

Hitomi jumped up in excitement, pumping her fist in a fashion Kakashi had only ever seen an Uzumaki do, "Yeah! Arigato, Kushina!"

Hitomi ran into the kitchen and helped Kushina set the table. Kakashi stood from the couch, his hands in his pockets, and waited for Minato and Jiraiya to choose their chairs. When Minato chose the head of the table, and Jiraiya sat to his left, Kakashi sat next to Jiraiya. Kushina came back into the room with two bowls in her hands, Hitomi close behind her with another bowl in both hands. Kushina put the bowls of ramen which she was holding in front of Jiraiya and Minato, and Hitomi handed Kakashi his. Then, the two went back into the kitchen and came back out with their bowls. Once everyone was seated, they recited, "Itadakimasu," and dug in.

The food was delicious, Kakashi would admit that. Compared to the rations he received when on ANBU missions, this was heaven. He savored the food as much as he could, but didn't let the small child see his face. Not that she seemed to care as she instead stared at Jiraiya's hair again.

"Tomi, what's with you and people's hair?" Kushina asked.

Hitomi thought for a moment, "I just like hair. It's fluffy and fun to play with. Mikoto let me play with hers. Shisui has the only head of semi-coarse hair in the entire Uchiha compound, other than his dad. And Itachi's hair is like silk. Like his dad's and his mom's."

Jiraiya scooted away from the table a little bit, "Am I the only one who finds that a bit... disturbing?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No."

Hitomi rolled her eyes, "It's not like I'm gonna go around pulling out everyone's hair so that I can have all the hair in the world. It's just fun to play with hair."

Jiraiya eyed the girl suspiciously, "Whatever you say... I thought I felt you pull out a few hairs earlier."

"All I did was undo the knots in your hair, Jiraiya," Hitomi replied flatly.

Jiraiya shot a thoughtful expression somewhere over Kushina's head before sighing, "Whatever you say."

Dinner went peacefully after that, and Kakashi was reminded of old times. It slightly disturbed him, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

Kakashi left after dinner. Jiraiya and I worked on the seal with Kushina and Minato until it was time for me to go to bed. I told the three adults (Weird thought when technically I was also an adult) goodnight, and went to bed.

The next morning, I got up, packed up, and left for school after telling Kushina and Minato I'd see them later. Kushina gave me my monthly allowance, and I promptly went to buy some pranking materials. I brought them to school and met up with Shisui and Itachi before the bell rung.

"Yo!" I greeted them.

Shisui and Itachi waved back. I walked over and sat down on the ground in front of the Academy.

I was reminded that they would now know that I knew that Obito was going to attack on the night of Naruto's birth. I mean, honestly, I had always known I would have to tell someone, and though it came out a little sooner than I would have liked, it wasn't particularly a big deal... I just had to figure out a way to tell them that they couldn't tell anyone else what I knew, and that I couldn't tell them how I knew for a while longer. I would, eventually. Just... not any time soon.

Itachi looked at me expectantly, "You are quiet today."

I nodded, "Yeah, I've been thinking about dishes a lot."

Shisui and Itachi shared glances, before Shisui spoke, "Hitomi, why won't you tell us when it is? Or how you know the dishes need that much work?"

"Because A, you guys will know when it is, it's kinda hard to miss, and B, I can't tell you yet," I replied.

"But you will tell us?" Itachi asked.

I nodded, "Yes, eventually. I just need you guys not to tell anyone else about the pile of dishes, otherwise all hell might break loose in the kitchen sink. And I'm trying to stop the pipes from exploding."

Shisui sighed and nodded, while Itachi just nodded. We stood and headed inside. As we passed through the door, Itachi looked at my bag, and then at me, "Please do tell me you're not going to do something odd today."

I smiled mischievously at him, "Ok, I tell you that I am not going to do something odd today. I will be performing something completely within my line of character."

Itachi shook his head, "Oh, dear."


	13. Chapter 13: Sorry for the wait!

A/N: Hey, guys! Uhh... I have three excuses?: History Essays, Sickness, and Finals. Sorry. Hope you guys enjoy! See you next chapter!

* * *

I began setting up my prank. One hundred fifty sticky notes (100 were blue, the other 50 were green), some seeds, shredded paper and fertilizer, a sealed cup of water, two types of food coloring, plus some frozen milk and fifteen minutes before the start of class, so no sensei or students to see me do the prank, beside Itachi and Shisui. It was the perfect setting.

"What are you doing?" Shisui asked quietly.

I lifted up the top board of the lectern and put some of the shredded paper in the cavity beneath it. I scattered the seeds among the paper, added the fertilizer, a bit of the water, and closed the loosely fitting top. I started placing blue sticky notes on the top of the lectern. I then began to spell out something on the side facing away from the door.

* * *

~Shisui!~

* * *

"Ah! That's cool, Tomi!" Shisui exclaimed when he saw what Hitomi was spelling out.

Hitomi grinned and kept spelling out, 'Daikoku-sensei is nice, lectures are a vice.' Shisui watched as Tomi took ice out of her bag and began putting the cubes under some of the desks. He tried to see what she was doing next, but he couldn't tell. It sounded like she was scratching something into the wood. She stood from setting the last prank up, skipped to the back of the room and up the wall. She hid whatever it was that she was doing from Shisui's view.

He tried to get a look at what she was doing, but she stuck her tongue out at him, "No peeking, Shisui!"

Shisui pouted, "Come on, Tomi! I only know the really obvious pranks that you're gonna do! I wanna know what you're doing!"

Tomi's smile grew wider as she completely ignored him and went back to setting up the prank.

A few minutes later, she skipped back over and plopped down into her seat next to Itachi. Shisui reached around his friend to poke the redhead.

"What. Did. You. Doooooo?" Shisui dragged the question out.

Tomi danced in her seat a little, "Hehehe, you'll see!"

Itachi sighed, "Tomi, please do not get us in trouble."

Tomi pouted innocently, "But that's what I'm here for!"

Itachi rolled his eyes at her, "Hn."

Tomi gasped, "Shisui! Did you hear that?! He just gave me the I'm-a-generic-Uchiha-and-I-don't-care-but-I-actually-do-so-I'm-just-gonna-make-a-non-commital-noise-because-I-can word!"

Shisui faked horror, "Tachi! How. Could. You!"

Itachi's face met his desk.

Shisui burst out laughing along with Hitomi.

* * *

~Itachi!~

* * *

'These two are completely ridiculous, sometimes,' Itachi thought fondly as he raised his head from the desk.

Three girls walked into the classroom. Itachi recognized them as some of Shisui's fangirls. Shisui's fangirl base had recently been expanding as Itachi purposefully dropped his grades and Shisui finally actually tried to throw the kunai and shuriken.

Shisui immediately paled when he saw them.

"Shisui, switch seats with me and sit in the corner," Tomi smiled.

Shisui nodded and got up. It was precisely at that moment when the fangirls noticed the three in the back.

One of them squealed and started running up the stairs.

'If they showed half that speed when they were training, perhaps they would have some potential to be ninjas,' Itachi scoffed mentally.

However, his eyes then met Hitomi's as she raised an eyebrow, "Really, Tachi? They'll get over it eventually."

'How on earth does she know what I'm thinking?' Itachi frowned mentally.

"Itachi, you're wearing your mental expressions. That's how," Tomi rolled her eyes as she sat, right as the fangirl got up the last row of stairs.

"Ah! No fair! You're always stealing the seat next to Shisui and Itachi-kun!" She glared.

Itachi wished he would do what Hitomi was doing; shake his head.

"Stealing the seat," Hitomi mimed, mocking the girl's shrill voice, "No, I'm not purloining the seat. I'm sitting next to my best friends."

"Well, whatever. You should move over so I can sit next to them," the fangirl whined.

"Nope!" Hitomi smiled, her eyes closed.

"Hmph! Well- You- You're a demon!" The girl finally decided on what she probably thought was a proper insult.

Hitomi shrugged, "Ok."

Itachi sighed and shook his head at the stupidity of the girl's statement.

Behind him, Itachi heard Shisui sigh with the glare etched into his voice at the fangirl.

Daikoku walked into the classroom. By this time, the fangirl was shrieking about something else as she tried to not be completely ignored by the three who were, as of now, engaged in a lively conversation over types of kunai and their best uses.

More people began streaming into the classroom.

Hana Inuzuka skipped up the stairs and plopped into the seat next to Hitomi, "Yo! What's up?"

Itachi watched as Hitomi high-fived the brunette, "Nothing much. Just talking about kunai."

"What kinds?" Hana asked, and the discussion shot off again.

Then in came Izumi Uchiha. Hana stood and waved her in. Izumi gave a gentle smile and came up the stairs, sitting next to Hana.

"Good morning," She said quietly.

Hitomi smiled at her, "Morning, Izumi. How's it going?"

Izumi smiled shyly, "It's going well..."

Hitomi grinned, "That's good. Do you have a preferred type of kunai?"

Izumi seemed somewhat caught off guard by the question, "Um... Well, the normal one, I guess?"

Hitomi smiled, "Nothing wrong with that! Hey, Maruten! Up here!"

Maruten Akimichi looked up, then smiled as he bounced up the stairs. The fangirl had simply been standing, staring at the group of people that had formed.

She tried to sit in the seat Maruten was going to occupy, but she suddenly jumped up when she felt something drag along the backside of her neck.

She screamed, "SPIDER!" and immediately ran away from the spot.

Itachi sighed as Hitomi dispelled her chakra string with a fit of laughter.

"You are a terrible person." Itachi felt the need to inform her.

Hitomi just winked and stuck her tongue out at him.

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

Itachi shook his head at me and turned to face the front of the classroom as Daikoku cleared his throat.

"All right class, settle down and find your seats. Now, can someone explain these sticky notes?"

And thus began my day.

* * *

~Daikoku!~

* * *

He honestly should have known. The prankster seemed to want to wait until everyone had let their guard down before acting. Whoever was doing this was very, very skilled. Whoever this was had the skill to make it look like half the class had peed themselves, and had covered yet another teacher in what seemed like very grainy poop at first glance, but was in fact paper dyed brown at second.

The poor woman had decided to quit after that. He wasn't sure if the prankster had something against her, or what, but it certainly looked like it.

"All right, everybody who's not in this class, get out. Now, as to you stinkers, whichever one of you is the prankster, stop this. Now. It is a distraction from studies, and could be detrimental to others' development," Daikoku explained. He didn't miss Hitomi in the back grinning idiotically at him.

'Maybe it's her... No, there's no way, she's too polite,' Daikoku reasoned, 'and I don't think she's smart enough to have done this.'

It was no secret that, while Hitomi was undoubtedly one of the most, simultaneously, loved and hated, members of the class, she had some of the worst grades. Not as bad as Saisu Kamano, but still quite low.

He noted Shisui Uchiha's laughing eyes next to her and pondered if it was the spunky Uchiha who had done this. He failed to figure it out.

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

I walked out of the Academy after the bell rang and classes ended, Itachi and Shisui flanking me. We were joking around when suddenly I realized, "HEY! Itachi! You haven't shown me your little brother yet! I'm coming home with you."

Itachi and Shisui shared a glance before Itachi carefully replied, "Tomi, my mom is rather... tired... and..."

"Cranky? Easily provoked? Pissy? Yeah, I get the picture. I'm still coming to see your little brother. I mean, he's gotta be part of the family!" I exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

Shisui had given a short bark of laughter at my blunt statements, before his mind halted at my last statement, "Family?"

"Mhm! See, you guys are my brothers, so since Itachi now has a little brother, he's my little brother, too. Make sense?" I asked.

Itachi frowned, "I suppose..."

We started towards the Uchiha Compound.

"What about Kushina-san?" Itachi turned to me.

I grinned, "Hehe," and made a Shadow Clone. My clone and I high-fived. I was making Shadow Clones every chance I got in order to enhance my reserves and master the technique.

My Shadow Clone ran off, and we continued along to the Uchiha Compound.

"Ooh! I wanna surprise Mikoto!" I decided suddenly. I immediately supressed my chakra to the smallest amount I could get it. I would look like either a cat or a mouse. Probably a cat, because as my reserves had been rapidly expanding, my control had begun to decline a little.

Itachi and Shisui shook their heads, and the three of us walked to the front of the house. Itachi and Shisui entered first, and I was steps behind.

But this day had been both the best possible to come to the Uchiha Compound, and the worst.

"YOU CAN'T GO THROUGH WITH IT!" Mikoto's yelling startled me as Itachi quickly closed the door behind us.

Then, I saw the silencing seals.

I shared glances with Shisui and Itachi, wincing as Fugaku roared, "WE HAVE TO PERFORM THE COUP! IT MAY BE THE ONLY WAY!"

My brain skidded to a halt. The three of us stared, dumbstruck, at Fugaku.

Mikoto's hand flew to her mouth as she saw us. She quickly gave Fugaku a signal, presumably to turn around.

Fugaku turned around, and his eyes immediately widened, "That was not what it seemed," came out a bit too quickly.

I slowly asked, "Then... what was it about...?"

Mikoto and Fugaku shared panicked glances. I sighed.

"...You guys are seriously planning a coup against Konoha," I shook my head. It was no surprise, even this early. Tensions had been building since the war's end. I had noticed, and tried to keep an eye on it. I looked at Fugaku again.

"Ne, Fugaku-san, what did Konoha just finish being in? With Kumo?" I asked.

Fugaku stared at me, his expression one of suspicion, "A war..."

I nodded, "Right. Question: Do you love your clan, or your village more?"

Fugaku and Mikoto both jumped at my question.

Fugaku looked at Mikoto, before replying guardedly, "Hn..."

I rolled my eyes and sat, cross-legged, on the floor. My heart was hammering in my chest. Fugaku or Mikoto could kill me. At any possible second.

'Fake it til you make it,' I chanted in my head before I said, hoping to God that my voice was calmer than I felt, "Fugaku-san, this conversation will not leave this room."

Fugaku frowned and narrowed his eyes at me, "Is that a conditional statement?"

"No. No matter what, what you and I say will stay in this room. At least, as far as I am concerned," I replied.

Itachi stared at me in disbelief, but Shisui's expression was impassive.

"... My clan," Fugaku carefully answered my earlier question.

"What are the ramifications of your 'coup' failing?" I asked.

Fugaku stopped to ponder it before carefully replying, "... The loss of the clan."

"Correct. Should your coup fail, your clan will be destroyed," I stated bluntly.

"And that's why we simply would not lose. We have many Uchiha men and women," Fugaku frowned.

I shook my head, and massaged my temples, "No, Fugaku-san, you would not win. May I remind you of the number of men and women in Konoha? May I remind you that every single one of them would be focused solely on destroying you, and even if you did win, not only would Konoha be weak from the coup, it would be because of this weakness that foreign nations would attack us, and, as the Uchiha would have just taken control and would be forcing the rest of the Shinobi to be ruled by the Uchiha who, though there is currently only a dislike among the majority for, there would be rebellion as a result of that dislike turning into hate. There would be no order, and we would be wide open to foreign attack, which would be merciless, and will not spare the life of any Konoha Shinobi, Uchiha or not."

"That may all be true, but we have the Sharingan," Fugaku countered.

I dropped my face into my hands and muttered, "seriously?" before raising my face and enunciating, "Fugaku-sama, with all due respect, the Sharingan is not all powerful. It is a useful tool, it is a wonderful weapon, but even the strongest sword breaks at some point. It would not matter if every single member of your clan held a fully-developed Sharingan with all three tomoes, you still would not be able to win because, a, Uchiha run out of chakra eventually, b, there are not enough of you, and, c, overuse of a kekki genkai does really, really weird things to your head. Plus, when you attack, the rest of the Shinobi in the village who actually do hate you will have a perfectly valid reason to eradicate your clan! The coup is not in your best interest, Fugaku-sama!"

I was pleading with him.

"Then... what should we do?" It was like all of the harshness that had become so characteristic in his face melted away, and for the first time, I saw a raw, confused, human being trying to do the best for his family.

I smiled at him, "Take down the person who's the root of the problem."

"But how? If you're so smart, how?" Fugaku asked, somewhat angrily, his sharpness coming back.

I shrugged, and stood, "Legally. Find dirt on them. Dirt that can't be washed away. Uncover the root of the problem," I was really trying to hint him in the right direction, but I didn't know if he got it.

Fugaku went silent for a moment. It felt too long. I fidgeted. Then, he looked up and eyed me, before shaking his head, saying, "Strange girl," as he walked past me and pat me on the head, before leaving and going outside.

I heard crying from the back of the house. Mikoto immediately perked and went running to comfort Sasuke.

"...Well, that actually went ok," I said thoughtfully to myself.

I looked at Itachi and Shisui. They were both staring at me.

* * *

~Shisui!~

* * *

Shisui had always known that Hitomi was... different. Whether smarter or more mature, or whatever, something was very different about her. He had just watched her talk down Fugaku Uchiha, and turn him to, instead of fighting the Hokage, fighting whoever was behind the hatred against the Uchiha. She was like a Nara. A fun-loving, pranking, never inactive Nara.

"What?" She asked nervously.

Itachi stared at her. Shisui watched his friend closely as he asked, "Hitomi, may I ask you the same question you asked Fugaku? Where do your loyalties lie?"

Hitomi tilted her head at him. Shisui could practically see her thinking, though what she was thinking about was a bit of a different story. She was good at hiding her thoughts.

"Hmm," Hitomi sighed, "A lot of places. With you, and with you," she gestured to Shisui, "To Mikoto, to Fugaku, to Kushina, Minato, Jiraiya-sensei, Kakashi-san, and... I can't name all of them."

Itachi shook his head, communicating that that hadn't been what he had been asking, "What place has your loyalty?"

"Place...?" Tomi frowned. After a moment's consideration, she replied, staring Itachi straight in the eyes, "My loyalty lies with Konoha and with my clan."

"Which one first?" Itachi pressed.

"Konoha," Tomi replied with certainty.

Itachi visibly relaxed.

* * *

~Itachi!~

* * *

It wasn't every day you got to watch your best friend explain to your father exactly why he was wrong, in what ways, and how he could fix the situation.

He was glad to learn where Hitomi's loyalties lay, but it did beg a question.

"Why did you promise to never speak about what happened in here?" Itachi asked.

Tomi shrugged, "Well, because he would have never even told me a sliver of the truth, then. Plus, who says I can't write it?" Hitomi laughed at that, "Just kidding, I wouldn't do that. Besides, telling someone would only exacerbate the situation. I could technically get my d... Ahem, Minato-san, to come and talk to your dad, but at this point, I think it's too early for that."

Itachi looked at Shisui as he asked, "How do you know?"

"Know what?" Tomi tilted her head.

"How do you know when the right time is?" Shisui asked.

"My gut," Hitomi replied.

Shisui and Itachi both stared at her.

Tomi quickly defended, "Ok, so, look, there really isn't any other way to tell. It's just impossible. And besides, I operate a lot on my gut."

Shisui shook his head fondly, before just smiling at her, "Well, you came to see Sasuke, right?"

* * *

~Hitomi!~

* * *

"Yep!" I exclaimed, grinning.

The three of us walked to go find Sasuke and Mikoto. We walked into Sasuke's nursery, guided by Itachi. Mikoto stared at me the entire time I was in the room.

I poked my face over the side of the crib and made a funny face at little Sasuke. He was wide awake, and staring out. He tried to laugh, resulting in a bunch of spit bubbles blowing all over his face.

I cooed, "Awww... May I pick him up?"

Mikoto eyed me before sighing and nodding. I gently picked Sasuke up, wiping the spit bubbles from his mouth. He grabbed my finger and tried to suck on it. I smiled broadly at him and I nuzzled his forehead gently. He seemed to like me.

I grinned at Itachi, "I may have to steal him from you. He's just so cute!"

At that, Sasuke began to wail. I immediately handed him to Itachi, greatly saddened, and he stopped crying.

I then crawled over to Sasuke and began to apologize, "I'm so sorry, Taka-bo... I promise I won't ever steal you from your big brother. He's your big brother. I shouldn't have even said anything like that."

Sasuke stared at me for a minute before holding his arms out towards me and making a noise. I smiled at him as Itachi reluctantly handed him back to me.

"Taka-bo?" Shisui asked.

"Mhmm," I nodded, "He reminds me of a little hawk."

Itachi tilted his head thoughtfully, "I like that."

I hissed at him possessively, "My nickname. You're his big brother. Come up with something different."

Itachi shook his head at me, laughing slightly, "All right..."

Mikoto walked over, "I would like him."

I handed him carefully to Mikoto. He began to cry a bit, but when he saw who it was, he was happy.

The three of us walked out of the nursery, back to the door, said our goodbyes, and I headed back to Minato and Kushina's apartment.

Kushina was not at the apartment. Idly, I wondered where she was. I took off my sandals and began on my homework.

About twenty minutes later, my Shadow Clone's memories returned to me. Kushina had been at the Hokage's Office, helping Minato with organizing his papers. She returned a few minutes later, hugged me, and made instant ramen.


	14. Chapter 13 and a half: Holes

A/N: Hey, guys! This isn't a regular update. This is me filling in some holes I left behind. Also, this chapter gets really depressing and creepy toward the end. Warning, maybe necessary? This chapter isn't really necessary, just something I wanted to add. Hope y'all enjoy. See you next chapter!

* * *

(Dango: A week after Hitomi first met Itachi, at the Academy during lunch...)

"So, you like sweets?" Hitomi asked, staring at Itachi's dango intently.

Itachi stared at her suspiciously before nodding his head.

"What's your favorite?" Hitomi queried.

Itachi swallowed his bite, "Dango."

Hitomi gave out a, "Huh," before smiling at him, "Cool!"

Itachi's opinion of Hitomi increased.

* * *

(Parent Complex: 2.5 months after Itachi fully accepted Hitomi as his friend...)

Itachi had known Hitomi for a relatively short period of time. He knew that. And yet, she had told him why she couldn't sleep at night, and why she had to spend nights at their house. She had told him why she would wake up sobbing, or cut herself off mid-scream. He knew she felt awful for disturbing their rest. It was evident every morning in the way she shuffled her feet, turned down her eyes, and seemed completely ashamed.

Although Itachi had heard the half-muffled screams and the wracking sobs as she woke up, he never saw her break down in public. Until one day when they were in the middle of a relatively normal conversation.

"We should definitely do that prank," Hitomi grinned.

Itachi had recognized pranking as a form of release for Hitomi, as a form of coping, "Not that one," but that didn't mean he approved of it, "My mom would get upset with me."

Hitomi laughed, "Aww, come on! My mo-" She had suddenly cut off, and completely frozen

Itachi stared at her, trying to figure out what was happening. Her eyes glazed over, and she began to hyperventilate. Then she began sobbing and coughing. Itachi immediately shouted for Mikoto.

Mikoto and Fugaku were both in the room almost immediately. They shared a glance, and tried to get close to Hitomi. However, swirls appeared under her eyes and her brown eye turned teal with a white pupil, and the temperature of the room began climbing quickly. Fugaku quickly knocked Hitomi out with a chop to the back of the head, and took her straight to the hospital.

Mikoto looked torn at what had just happened. She looked down at Itachi who was staring at the spot Hitomi had just been in, "Well done, Itachi."

Itachi met his mom's eyes. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Do you understand what just happened?" Mikoto asked.

Itachi thought about it for a moment, "Sort of..."

"She just had a relapse. She was reliving her experience in the place she was before we found her," Mikoto sighed.

Itachi had watched Hitomi go through four relapses, all in all. So far, at least. It hurt to watch. Each time, she nearly choked, and she was completely paralyzed, and then she wasn't the same for the next few days. She easily zoned out, and her eyes lost the life that usually sparked inside them.

* * *

(Shisui's attitude: 3 months after Hitomi's befriending of Itachi...)

When Shisui had first met Hitomi, she had struck him as broken and terrified. Maybe on the surface she was all right, but something told him she was far from it. The moments that she would completely lose herself in her head gave him hints. Her face would display more raw emotion than he ever saw on anyone else's face, and yet no emotion at all. It was difficult to describe.

"Whatcha doin?" Hitomi asked as Shisui finished his homework.

Shisui grinned, "I'm done with what I was doing, now."

"Well then, what were you doing?" Hitomi asked.

He learned very early on that Hitomi was curious. If there was something she didn't know, she endeavored to find out everything she could about it.

"Homework."

"Oh." She scrunched up her nose.

He found the way she did that amusing. It made her freckles stand out. He looked at her orange eye. She subconsciously moved her hair in front of the eye. He had noticed that she had begun to grow her hair out, and most days she allowed it to completely obscure her orange and white-pupil eye. He wondered if she was doing it on purpose. She had told him what had happened, in more detail than she had Itachi, because he had seen more.

It didn't make her story any less horrific.

"Are you growing your hair out for a reason?" Shisui asked.

"It'll be better to use as an impromptu weapon," she smiled.

"And the reason you cover your right eye?" Shisui asked.

She flinched. Shisui winced.

"Sorry," he apologized immediately.

She shook her head, "No, it's all right..."

Shisui met her brown eye.

"I..." She swallowed before saying quietly and all in one breath, "Ihatemyeye."

Shisui slung his arm around her shoulder.

"You shouldn't. Orange is a great color on you," Shisui smiled.

She smiled ruefully, "Doesn't mean I can stand to have people look at my eye..."

Shisui smacked her upside the head, just as she did to Itachi when he was in a funk.

"Shut up. Your eyes are great. And you shouldn't be ashamed of them, nor should you hate them," Shisui rolled his eyes.

She stilled and hung her head before saying so quietly that he almost couldn't hear, "if I didn't have these eyes, Sekki wouldn't have died."

Shisui patted her shoulder and paused before saying quietly, "Not true."

She looked at him in alarm. She was crying.

"It's not true," He repeated, "You're smart, Tomi. You should know that you are not the only reason that he died."

She stared at her hands, before muttering brokenly, "I stabbed him. With f*cking chakra blades. MY chakra blades. How is that not the reason he died?"

Shisui smiled glumly, "Even if you had never been born, he would have still died, Tomi. The bandits were after your eyes. Whether-or-not you had been there, he still would have died."

Hitomi laughed heavy-heartedly, "Yeah, but if I hadn't been there, at least he wouldn't have had to go through weeks of..."

She couldn't finish the sentence. Shisui saw the momentary freeze as her brain tried to process something it wasn't ready to. She shook her head, clearing the process.

"If I hadn't been there, he would have had a quick death," She dismally voiced.

Shisui whacked her on the back of the head again, and she turned to him with an incredulous stare, as he stated, "I don't think a quick death was much of a mercy. He was your little brother, he loved you, he died, you killed him, and you should not feel guilty about it because it was the only way out."

Hitomi began sobbing, "But those are all just EXCUSES!"

She covered her face in her hands and curled up into herself. Shisui just rubbed her back. She wasn't going to deal with this today. It was too soon. There were moments like this one, where she let herself cry, and let herself show the shattered mess that was inside her mind, but then there were moments where it seemed that an entirely different, angry, and bitter persona came out. He idly wondered if her experience had left her with a split personality.

'Nah,' he thought, 'Not Tomi.'

He tugged her out of the ball she had curled into hugged her, and let her cry. She eventually exhausted her tears.

"Sorry," She smiled at him as she wiped her tears away. Her eyes were swollen and puffy, her nose was red, and her voice was watery.

"Your nose matches your hair," Shisui smirked.

She turned bright red, the same shade as the brightest red in her hair. Shisui poked her on the forehead.

She rolled her eyes and smiled.

* * *

(From the Therapist: a few days later...)

Uzumaki-Kanashimi Hitomi. A tragic case, Riku Yamanaka decided. She stared at the girl's file. It hadn't surprised her to learn that the girl had massive issues, especially after what she went through, and at such a young age, too. The girl had been reported to have symptoms of developing a split-personality, and, to use slang, a parent and brother complex.

The girl's mental state had been making slow progress. It was taking a good portion of time to undo what the "bandits" had done to the little girl. Being with the two Uchiha boys that occasionally walked her to the office seemed to help.

Riku opened the file on the base of "Bandits" the girl had directed the Konoha forces to. The bandits had been half bandits, half missing-nin, and there were mass amounts of them. It seemed that the girl had systematically worked her way through the base, killing one person at a time, finding places to rest along the way. The medical team had taken samples of the "Rabies shot," as the girl had so accurately described, that the shit-heads had given the girl's brother.

It truly had been a derivative of rabies, specially tailored to slowly destroy human muscle cells and target the nervous system for the sole purpose of causing maximum pain to the person being injected.

If Riku hadn't been in Anbu for years, she might have openly grimaced at the sight of the sketches of the inside of the torture chambers in the hell-hole.

Riku shook her head and placed the file down.

"Despicable."

* * *

(Dreams: A day later...)

Hands grasping, maggots writhing, pain, pain, pain, Sekki's not supposed to have a knife, what's going on? Pain, pain, pain, why can't it end? Where are Mom and Dad? Not the red and white ones, but the ones you had a long time ago. Don't you miss them? Don't you, Tomi? Don't you, Rachel? Which one are you? DOn't you? Look at them, they're mad at you. Maybe you should not listen to me anymore. Focus on the nightmares? No. Don't do that. Focus on my voice. There. See? Oh, wait, no, they're back, they're back, THEY'RE BACK AND THEY'RE DRAGGING ME away...

You're crouched in a corner, now. They've got him (my second dad, that's my second dad, he should be my SECOND DAD!) tied to a post. Oh, look. (No, no,no,nonononono, I don't want to see this!) There are all his guts. I know! Let's play pick out the organs! (STOP! PLEASE, STOP! STOP!) So... I see a heart, a liver, ooh, is that a gall bladder? And are those his lungs? Ah! His kidneys! Look at them, all covered in his blood. Maybe you should take a bite. (NO! I'm not a cannibal, I'm not, I'm not, IREFUSEIWON'TDOIT) Of course, of course, you still have those pesky morals. Maybe we should get rid of them...? Oh, never mind. I'm rambling again. Ah! I missed the rest of the organs! Where'd they go? Why are they taking out his eyes? Squish, squelch, squish, squelch squishsquelchsquishsquishsquish... They're no longer in his head! What about his brain! Oh! Brilliant! (No, no, no, NOT THROUGH hIS NOSE! STOP MAKING ME WATCH THIS!) They went for the Egyptian method of removing the brains through the nose! I wonder if they'll take out his tongue, too?

Everything went black. Then white. (No, not white. I hate white. White is the color of pain. I hate pain. I don't want this. STOP!) White, white everywhere, then red splatters on the white. Beautiful. The perfect massacre. You did well.

NO!

STOP!

I AM NOT A MURDERER!

Then what's all this? Hallways filled with frozen and roasted bodies? I mean, look at this guy's fingers! They fell off! And this guy's skin is melting, dripping slowly down his arms, even though he's already dead because you sent a blast of head to his brain that fried it. TAAAASTY~~!

STOP!

I can't. You're the one who's punishing yourself. I'll stop when you do! Until then, I'll make sure you feel every shred of guilt you can.

See you in the morning~!


	15. Author's Note

Author's Note: Hey guys. This is not a regular update. I'm sorry, but I can't update right now. A friend of mine died, and I now have no motivation to write. I will be back, and the next chapter will come, but I can't find it in myself to wright right now. I'm sorry for the delay, but please bear with me. I will be back soon, and thank you all for your patience. Thank you for reading my story, and I will see you all next update.


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